Green light for Grade II listed building to be converted into affordable apartments

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A housing association has been given the go-ahead to convert a vacant Grade II listed building, which was formerly a tavern, into affordable apartments.

Monmouthshire Housing Association will carry out internal adaptations, including some demolition and a roof and rear extension, to the Georgian townhouse at 13 St Ann Street, Chepstow.

Records show the property was the Sailors Tavern from 1813, and probably from 1777, until 1846. It was also called the Jolly Sailor and Old England.

It also became a filterworks, with the material used for filtering being created by burning pitch and tar from blocks of ground and compressed Tintern charcoal.

The three storey property was converted into six apartments in the 1980s but the housing association has described it as in “a poor state of condition” and “no longer fit for purpose” which it says requires “significant upgrade to meet current building regulation standards”.

Damp

Its application stated the existing apartments have suffered from damp and poor insulation and the modern extension at the back of the property, added in 1982, will be demolished and upgraded.

It says its plans will “safeguard the heritage asset” though it describes “much of the value” of the listed building as lost due to works carried out in the 1980s but states materials such as “natural slate, leaded dormer windows and new timber sash windows” will enhance the building.

Its plans will see a seventh apartment, a two-bedroom property, created in the roof void while the ground floor will be split between a one-bedroom apartment and a further two-bedroom apartment.

In total there will be four two-bedroom apartments and three one-bedroom apartments.

There will also be an external storage area for bicycles, rubbish and recycling and a drying area and private garden or amenity space as well as a path to the public car park restored with access controlled by a security gate.

Monmouthshire Housing said it anticipates visitors will use the public car park and describes the house as well positioned in the town centre for public transport and the nearby national cycle network.