Businesses and stakeholders have given their opinions on the new design proposals for Monmouth town centre presented by Roberts Limbrick.

However the regeneration of Monnow Street - at the heart of the scheme - hit a setback last week with the failure to attract funding from the national pot of levelling-up funds.

A third attempt will now solely concentrate on the “potential” of the Severnside area of the county, described by Councillor Paul Griffiths as having a “high economic value” to Wales.

The ‘trial’ layout of Monnow Street - introduced during the pandemic to help social distancing - has proved to be divisive though, with some in favour of the enhanced, ‘less-hurried’ pedestrian environment of wider pavements and planters, and some pointing out that the temporary nature of the kerbs has led to poor drainage and a loss of loading bays and parking.

Some businesses are concerned that these stop-gap measures are set to last well into the post-pandemic trading period when businesses are struggling to return to a reasonable level of footfall.

One business we spoke to said that they were worried that the town will stay as it is for a lot longer with the poor surface water drainage “and nobody likes the planters!”

Having attended the meeting for businesses, the shop owner said the traders at the meeting did feel that the designer was not listening to them and three or four walked out early because of that.

“Although the design looks beautiful, you have to have the workability of a design too,” and added “I don’t think the designer is looking at it from a business aspect: they propose a water garden at the exit to the bus station where buses will be trying to get out.”

Councillor Jane Lucas attended the meeting the night before for stakeholders and was given the impression that most businesses - 85 per cent she believes - were in favour of the plans but Chris Ryde of the Savoy said that MCC had come to the meeting for the traders on Wednesday “with a set of statistics saying that over 90 per cent of businesses felt it was a satisfactory settlement but none of the business represented in the Wednesday meeting seemed to agree” he said.

“I left the meeting completely confused because there were six or seven traders who were not happy with the plans as they didn’t address their needs and concerns” yet had been told everybody had agreed with the design.

Another shopkeeper told the Beacon that most customers that come into the shop “complain that they couldn’t find anywhere to park. The proposed new layout of the town is only going to make that worse by reducing the number of short stay parking spaces throughout the town centre. If people can’t park they will go elsewhere to shop and without customers coming into the town more shops will face closure. It’s been bad enough while the temporary measures have been in place but the plan to reduce parking spaces further with the new layout just doesn’t make sense.”

They continued: “While I understand the push for active travel (to cycle or walk wherever possible) the changes to the road layout including an increased availability for bicycle storage doesn’t take into account the geography of the surrounding area or the demographics of the people living nearby who shop in town.”

“Monmouth used to have it’s own pretty unique feel to it with the wide road at the bottom narrowing towards the top, harking back to driving animals up the street from the market by the bridge, I fear that by losing this to a sea of concrete, planters and difficult-to-understand ‘shared space’ the town will become a poor copy of multiple other towns around the UK facing similar treatment. I am all for improving the customer experience but I don’t feel like this does!”

Sherren McCabe-Finlayson, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce said it was becoming clear from conversations and from more general opinions, that the temporary measures “should be removed as soon as possible, apart from Salt and Pepper’s cafe area, and the street put back to how it was pre-Covid. The businesses largely blame those measures for the demise of custom and footfall in the town, with several retailers reporting that their turnover is down 35-40 per cent on pre-Covid levels.

“The retailers would rather have this disruption now than wait for what could be several years, to secure funding. This could make all the difference to those teetering on the edge and is deemed an essential step forward for the future of the town.

MCC and the consultants have agreed to hold a public consultation over the plans from February 11. They will have a staffed exhibition in a Monnow Street vacant premises, yet to be confirmed.