FLOOD risk guidelines which killed off plans for a Wyeside spa hotel have been slammed on the floor of the Welsh Assembly Senedd.

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay said the Welsh Government decision to stop the council-approved Hadnock Road scheme from going ahead was an example of red tape being “over-zealously applied”.

He told First Minister Carwyn Jones that rigidly applied flood risk rules were “stifling economic opportunities across Wales”.

Despite Monmouthshire County Council approving the plan for a 60-bed spa hotel on the derelict 11-acre industrial site, the Welsh Government overturned the decision last October after a report said it was a “highly vulnerable development” in a flood zone that would increase the “risk to lives”.

Mr Ramsay said the “over-zealous” application of the government’s flood risk Technical Advice Note 15, known as TAN 15, had scuppered “a fantastic gateway project” at Monmouth’s Valley Enterprise Park, which had been unused for nine years.

“The concern in the town about this has not diminished over the New Year,” he told Mr Jones. “The hotel was rejected on planning grounds under TAN 15 considerations.

“Can you officially look again at this decision or, failing that, look again at the TAN 15 guidelines, because it does seem that this been over-zealously applied and I am concerned it is starting to stifle economic opportunities across Wales which otherwise would benefit the Welsh economy?”

The First Minister declined to comment on the specific plan, which was rejected by Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs, but said TAN 15 was “being looked at”.

Mr Ramsay met Riverside Park residents last month, who were “baffled” that the hotel plan beside their homes had been overturned.

Park residents who have lived there for more than 30 years said they had never seen their site, some 200 yards above the 400-year-old Wye Bridge, flooded.

Mr Ramsay said: “The residents consider they always have adequate warning of flooding and are permitted to live on the riverbank. The land proposed for the new hotel and spa had never flooded and residents always use this land as an escape route. The decision seems totally illogical to them.

“I’ve already asked the Welsh Government to reconsider its unpopular decision, but this request was turned down.

“Local people are very disappointed about this lost opportunity, and fear the site will never be redeveloped. It is a prime site in the gateway to Wales with universal local backing and would have provided welcome employment and a huge boost to tourism locally.

“People want answers, so I will be asking the Welsh Government for a meeting with residents in the New Year and raising the matter with Ken Skates AM, the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy. It’s simply not acceptable that such a great opportunity is missed.”

Monmouth’s Chamber of Trade and others connected with the tourism and hospitality business had backed the hotel scheme, including Michael Obray, the former general manager at the Michelin-starred Crown at Whitebrook restaurant.

A Valley Enterprise Park scheme for a combined heat and power plant, which would have supplied the hotel, was given the go ahead last month by planners.