Sir,
Without wishing to bore readers with another letter on a popular subject, I would like to voice my support for the campaign to put the market back where it should be – at the Shire Hall.
I have a lifelong association with the town through school, family, and forebears and the place where my wife and I do most of our shopping.
We come to Monmouth because of the wide variety of interesting independent shops and the market.
It is therefore sad to see that after all the work and effort expended, the Shire Hall stands as a sterile monument to lost opportunity and local authority obstinacy.
This area should be the heart of the town and the Saturday market added vibrancy and interest. This is not the case with the current location.
Monmouth frequently gets very busy on Saturdays, and the parking spaces are needed for the purpose for which they were originally intended.
The attitude of Monmouthshire County Council is deplorable, but not surprising, it is but a few years since they turned Chepstow into a pastiche of a place with 'steps and statues', hopefully Monmouth will resist.
At present, local authorities are driven by 'projects, policy and process' with the hope of officers advancing their career paths, common sense is a strange bedfellow to this.
Arranging meetings and further consultations will not do, there should be no more procrastination, just move the market.
It is perhaps fortunate that election time will soon be upon us, councillors should be reminded that there is no such thing as a 'safe seat', particularly if they do not rally to this campaign.
Jeremy Ryder Smith
(Chepstow)