A COUPLE have been given permission to use an area of overgrown wasteland behind residential houses as a plot for growing fruit and vegetables.
David and Julianne Hughes, who describe themselves as “organic, no-dig gardeners” who shun the use of pesticides, intended to buy the land at the rear of Plas Ty Coch in Oakfield, Cwmbran from Torfaen Borough Council for use as a private garden.
They want to use the site which is between it and South Road and which is next to residential garages for growing fruit and vegetables as well as flowers, trees and shrubs and also put up a boundary fence and put up shed and greenhouses as well as polytunnels and remove a dilapidated greenhouse.
The couple live, nearby at The Close, and have an allotment at South Road where they compost as much as they can and collect fallen leaves which they store until it becomes leaf mould which they describe as beneficial for the soil and feed their fruit and vegetable beds with “well-rotted manure from organically fed horses”.
The land was previously used as a communal garden area and its thought was used for growing fruit and vegetables for more than 10 years before being left and overgrown.
Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department has granted planning permission to formalise the horticultural use and for the various structures that are described as of an appropriate height.
Planning officer Simon Pritchard said in a report: “Overall, the proposal would result in the reuse of land with currently low amenity value with a development which would be visually acceptable.”