Village Shop From Netflix’s “Sex Education” to be Demolished for Housing Development

A VILLAGE shop that featured in the Netflix series Sex Education is to be demolished with the site developed for housing along with a replacement store. 
Browns General Stores in Llandogo in Monmouthshire’s Wye Valley will be replaced with a new shop at the corner of the site that will have a manager’s flat above it. 
An existing house used for bed and breakfast accommodation will be redeveloped as a four-bedroom detached house while four new homes will be provided with two pairs of semi-detached two-bedroom homes built on the site which is beside the main A466 Wye Valley link road. 
In the hit Netflix series characters Adam Groff, played by Barbie actor Connor Swindells, and Ola Nyman, played by Patricia Allison, were seen working at Browns which featured as a convenience store. 
The shop closed in November, 2021 having been run by the same family for more than 90 years. 
When the plans were approved by Monmouthshire County Council’s planning committee, on August 6, local councillor for St Arvans ward Ann Webb said residents had missed the shop. 
She said: “I often hear in the village ‘I do miss Browns Stores’. It’s a much needed facility.” 
The Conservative said the application, which was first put forward at the end of 2022, had “taken a long time” to be considered and said: “We do not want a vacant site any longer.” 
The committee was told the council’s usual policy would require 35 per cent of the homes, on site, to be affordable but planning officer Amy Longford said its independent consultants had accepted that would make the development “unviable”. 
Instead the council will accept a contribution “just shy” of £20,000 towards affordable housing elsewhere in the county, which will be secured through a section 106 legal agreement with applicant James Green of Robert C Green Shopfitters in Cwmbran. 
Ms Longford also said the council’s landscape officer had raised concerns about the development which is in the Wye Valley National Landscape, or area of outstanding natural beauty, and its officer said they were concerned about an “urbanising feel and overdevelopment”. 
The application was considered by the committee as there were more than five objections but Lyn Parker of the Wye Valley Community Council said it supported the application as it met the local authority’s policies. 
She said: “The village needs a shop and we have a high proportion of older people who miss the social interaction.” 
Wyesham independent councillor Emma Bryn said it is a “right of passage for children to be able to nip to the local shop to pick up eggs and flower, and they have missed that” but said she was concerned there was no direct pedestrian route to the shop door through the car park. The pavement across the front of the site will be extended to two metres wide. 
Ms Longford said highways officers hadn’t objected and the design is intended to ensure vehicles have space to manoeuvre and exit in a forward gear. 
The committee approved the application with an added condition the replacement shop is built before the four new homes at the front of the site are occupied.  All homes will have electrice vehicle charging points and there will also be one for public use at the shop. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​