THE KEEP Abergavenny Livestock Market campaigners have formally announced that they are taking their case to the Court of Appeal following a High Court judge's decision not grant the group legal means to challenge the outcome of two Judicial Reviews connected with the future of historic market.

KALM's founder Jenny Long and member Barry Greenwood said that after consultation with their legal team that the campaigners have decided to take our case to the Court of Appeal.

The pair said that they took exception to County Councillor Bob Greenland's claim that KALM was wasting tax payers' money and added: "According to last week's Chronicle,  Monmouthshire County Council made the decision to close Abergavenny and Monmouth markets in 2000 at a specially convened planning meeting which was ratified by full Council the following day, however this left no time for consultation with anybody.

"If the authority had consulted with the local communities at that time, a mutually acceptable plan could have been agreed and the series of legal challenges (not just from KALM) would never have happened.

"If we are looking for a truly profligate wastage of tax payers money then the finger points to County Hall.

"Monmouthshire were in abortive negotiations over two plots of land before purchasing the plot at Bryngywn. The Bryngwyn livestock market scheme will cost tax payers' over £5M to build, not counting the wasted money on the two abortive negotiations.

"The present market could be modernised for much less than this, and be undertaken by using private money.  The auctioneers will be charged a relatively peppercorn rent, the subsidy being a charge on taxpayers."

The protestors went on to explain that the Monmouthshire council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the farming unions to run the new market for 50 years.

The KALM campaigners added: "This is a binding contract whether or not it is economically viable, an unimaginable cost to the tax payer. In addition to all the above, the fees and costs over all this time amount to around £2M. 

"Compared to this total wastage of money over 12 years and a blank cheque for 50 years into the future, the public cost of KALM's legal challenge pales into insignificance."

The protestors claim that Monmouthshire County Council's underlying strategy was wrong, adding: "The meeting in 2000 said that Abergavenny and Monmouth markets were 'no longer economically viable to operate'. 

"Yet Keith Spencer of Abergavenny's auctioneers told the Compulsory Purchase Order Inquiry in January this year that Abergavenny livestock market was busier and trading better than he had ever known it.

"For all these reasons KALM is fully vindicated in proceeding with its legal challenge.

" We owe our many supporters nothing less."

Councillor Greenland, Monmouthshire deputy leader and Cabinet Member for Modernisation and Enterprise said: "My message to KALM is simply that they should bow to the inevitable and turn their resources to helping the Council deliver this popular scheme for the benefit of Abergavenny.

"However, I understand that they still intend to pursue a legal process that has already resulted in their leave to appeal being rejected by the Judge who heard their Judicial Reviews.

"The Judge has commented that there is "no reasonable prospect of success".

"If KALM proceed with further action the planning authority will have to spend yet more money on top of the significant costs of dealing with multiple actions, all of which have been defeated at each key stage.

"This will result in less money being available for critical services such as schools. If they were only wasting their own money then that would be up to them. When it is public money and there is the possibility they will be granted yet more legal aid, then I think the time has long gone when we are entitled to say  'enough is enough'."

He continued: "KALM know that we have consulted extensively on this – we provided evidence of this in the Judicial Review that they lost.

"The group also knows that we have commissioned and acted upon a number of reports into the current market's viability – this was a key plank of our evidence to the Judicial Review.

"And KALM knows that the final decision to go ahead with the project was taken by a meeting of full council in August 2009, held in public and at which KALM gave evidence.

"Again, this was part of the evidence we used in the Judicial Review. Just because the reports, consultation and democratic mandate of our councillors – not to mention polls in the Abergavenny Chronicle - do not conform to KALM's world view does not mean that they can be conveniently ignored."

Steve Greenslade, MCC's Director of Transition added: "Even now KALM continue with their claim that the Council is using £5million on a new market rather than spend £2million on renovating the old one.

"Without wishing to repeat all the facts yet again I think it is worth pointing out that the current site is far too small for the volume of trade now going through it.

"The auctioneers agree, the farming unions agree and elected councillors of all parties agree.  It has to move to survive.

"The sale of the site to Morrisons will not only pay for the new market, it will pay for the new library, repay the Council for the brewery yard improvement scheme and put a sizeable amount of money towards our goal of re-building our secondary schools, including King Henry.

"None of that would happen if KALM had their way. Expecting private investment to come forward is unrealistic.

"Even if the £2million they claim it will cost for a renovated market turned out to be accurate, the Council would still be left with the new Library and the Brewery Yard improvements to pay for as well as having a livestock market that all professional opinion believes would be too small."