A FORMER garage in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty could have 26 homes built on it.

The Wye Garage site beside the B4234 in Lower Lydbrook has been vacant for 10 years having previously been used as a sawmill, a bus and lorry depot, a petrol filling station, a body repair and paint shop, and a trailer and commercial vehicle storage area.

Forest planners have been told that a bid to develop the land for housing was first made 30 years ago, with another plan approved for outline planning in 2004 for 40 houses.

Work was started on the site more than a decade ago, but the need to excavate the rock face on the north east side made the scheme economically unviable.

Now owners CJ and LJ Jones have asked Forest planners to approve outline planning for a smaller scheme, claiming it will be “beneficial visually within this part of the AONB.”