An opposition group set up to challenge a controversial Newport development has slammed the National Park Authority’s decision to consider a fresh application.

The new application to retain and complete the existing building, Bettws Newydd, is due to be considered by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority this month.

Permission was given for a dwelling at the site in 2006, but the house was built without sticking to the approved plans, and is now the subject of a new retrospective application.

In light of the new application, the Bettws Newydd Opposition Group (BNOG) is stepping up its campaign once again, and nearly 100 letters objecting to the new plan have been sent to the national park calling for the plans to be refused.

A BNOG spokesman said: “The differences between the stamped approved scheme and what exists now on site are very marked indeed.

“The current application is for nothing more than the construction of bunds to cover up the building, and for planting to make the building look a little more like the stamped approved drawing, albeit after ten years and perched on a hill in the wrong place.”

A national park authority spokesman said: “The application also aims to provide a scheme of earthworks and associated landscaping which attempts to address the committee’s resolution in October, which invited the applicant to explore whether he could ‘remedy the harm to an acceptable extent’ before further legal action was taken.

“Detailed investigation of the ‘differences’ between the 2006 permission and the as-built dwelling is being undertaken and will be fully itemised in the committee report.

“The application will be considered against the current policy framework and the 2006 permission which, because it could still be implemented, is, in planning terms, a material consideration.”

The application is due to be considered by the authority’s development management committee in April.