Wednesday 15 April 2009

Abergavenny Cattle Market

The intervention of the Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market (KALM) group in the ongoing campaign to retain the Cattle Market and to preserve the unique character of Abergavenny as a traditional market town should be warmly welcomed, as it shows that both local residents and many local farmers wish to retain the Cattle Market in Abergavenny.

It’s now up to Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) to make the most of this fresh opportunity to get things right. KALM has presented MCC with a real opportunity to begin the whole process afresh, this time working hand in hand with concerned local residents, farmers and small businesses to ensure that Abergavenny retains its Cattle Market and it’s fundamentally unique character as a market town.

Across Monmouthshire (and elsewhere in England and Wales) we have to often in the past seen ill-thought out unsympathetic redevelopments that have had a detrimental effect on the local economies in both Chepstow and Monmouth and elsewhere.

The retention of the cattle market in Abergavenny presents a real opportunity to do something fundamentally different, something that should be able to address both environmental and economic concerns and contribute to the retention of the unique character of the market town that is Abergavenny.

The Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market (KALM) group, have gone to the National Assembly for Wales Petitions Committee:

P-03-205 - Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market - can be found at:

http://www.assemblywales.org/gethome/e-petitions-old/admissible-pet/rf205.htm

It is worth noting that National Assembly Ministers, under Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 may call in applications for planning permission for their own determination. While there is a tendency to consider that development proposals are best dealt with by planning authorities that know their area, its needs and sensitivities, it is pretty obvious that with regard to MCC, and the redevelopment of Abergavenny and its cattle market this is clearly not the case, hence the need to call in this proposed development.

Planning applications can be called in when they raise issues of more than local importance, issues which are in conflict with national planning policies; could have wide effects beyond their immediate locality; may give rise to substantial controversy beyond the immediate locality and are likely significantly to affect sites of scientific, nature conservation or historic interest or areas of landscape importance which covers almost every aspect of the proposed redevelopment of Abergavenny cattle market.

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