PLANS paving the way to a new-look Monmouth have been released in the form of a ‘shared space concept’ for Agincourt Square.

The Public Realm Group - a collaboration between town and community councils, Monmouth Civic Society, Monmouth 2020 Vision, Active Travel and officers from Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) - met last week to discuss the redevelopment of the town centre with Agincourt Square; the first phase of a regeneration plan with other areas of the town to follow.

It is hoped the plan will enhance the town’s historical and architectural beauty, and support trade and tourism for the future. The idea is to recreate the square as it once was, but accommodating the road that must be maintained through it using cobbled setts across the road and pavements, to delineate the square area, whilst limiting the typical road painting and graphics of a typical highway.

Roger Hoggins, Head of Operations for MCC warned that the highways department is well aware that the area around the pinch point and below is eroding and they will need to prioritise the resurfacing of that area in this year’s works schedule.

He said that ‘black top’ resurfacing is required, with additional resurfacing for Cinderhill and Drybridge roads and suggested that if any work is done around the square, it should include the pinch point.

At present, there is a pot of £250k put aside by MCC for resurfacing work in the square and a significant proportion will be side-lined for the essential resurfacing works.

Monmouth Town Council has allocated £30k for the redevelopment, which will remain in the fund.

Charles Boase, representing the civic society, criticised the town council for ‘bottling out’ of further funding in the new tax year with a further £30k but this was robustly defended by Councillor Felicity Cotton who said the council was reluctant to commit further public money to a scheme that was not ‘fleshed out’, and one that had not been considered publicly at all at that stage.

“We aim to involve stakeholders at the earliest possible stage in our decision making, and we are reluctant to commit residents’ money to schemes that have not passed through public opinion” Cllr Cotton said.

Whether to keep the ‘pinch point’ or not has been a topical point of discussion ever since it was introduced in October 2015.

Cllr Jane Lucas repeatedly asked for a public survey regarding the efficiency of the pinch point; expressing concerns that it has led to increased congestion and increased pedestrian safety concerns. But Paul Keeble, highways officer for MCC said that the post-trial consultation concluded 75 per cent of respondents felt the pinch point had aided traffic flow, and increased pedestrian safety.

David Cummings of Monmouth Chamber of Trade and Commercep said that this is a very important feature of the town, and anything done has to be done sympathetically. He had concerns over reducing the width of Priory Street to five metres, as a lorry is two and a half metres wide plus wing mirrors. He was also concerned that that the necessary road closure to accommodate the works will have an impact on trade as: “there are already 15 empty shops, and traders cannot afford to lose business”.

Out of a number of options on the table, the Public Realm Group decided on a plan to extend the scheme up to Iceland, but the first phase would be the immediate area in front of the Shire Hall - the historic cobbles to remain - and extend the plan once funds allowed. Setts would be used as they have a smoother surface than cobbles and would link with existing cobbles outside the Shire Hall, the flagstone pavement would be removed and redone, and there would be ‘cobbled’ channel margins to indicate the edge of pavement, also a possible slight dip in road height in an attempt to delineate the pedestrian square area from the road with the minimum of road surface paint possible.

Roger Hoggins and the MCC team were tasked with drawing up a schedule and costing of the works to include the pinch point by June so the scheme could go to public consultation and then work could begin later in the year.