SIR,
If Monmouth is in danger of drowning, then there are three main areas of concern; flooding, congestion and schools/ services.
In the case of flooding, presumably the powers that be thought so when £6m was spent not long ago on the flood alleviation scheme and pumping station to protect Overmonnow, and even then the engineering report from Atkins warned that Wonastow Road could not be protected, would flood in future, and five individual homes would need protection.
Having achieved this partial protection, how does one begin to understand the thinking behind the proposal to tarmac over the equivalent of six football pitches of industrial estate, and double again the area for roads, pavements, houses and drives of 400 dwellings?
They will be situated not half a mile up the Wonastow Brook, and the resultant rush of surface water to the bottom end of town.
This on a site one third flood plain; the building land a foot or two above.
Congestion: This is no problem, according to the feasibility report, for despite acknowledging present bottleneck congestion at Wonastow Road and Portal Road, allowance for more vehicles can be achieved by faster lights at the new bridge (pedestrians beware) and shaving the forecourt of the Petrol Station to create an additional lane. And that's it, I kid you not.
Schools: no problem, there is plenty of capacity at the comp for up to a few hundred new pupils, says the chief planning officer, see the Beacon, January 2011, so a dozen new demountables to stack on top of the present 14 containers presently in use. Count them. I did.
Still happy with the future?
Sign the petition.
Mike Jones and others
(Stop Monmouth Drowning)