AFTER months of speculation The Abergavenny Chronicle can exclusively reveal the finalised proposals for the new Morrisons in Abergavenny.

Following more than six months of detailed discussions with Monmouthshire County Council, as well as many other consultees, and a public consultation exhibition attended by more than 500 people, Morrisons has now finalised its proposal for the comprehensive redevelopment of the cattle market site in Abergavenny town centre and submitted a detailed planning application.

The proposed supermarket will have a sales area of approximately 25,000sq ft and will provide around 280 local job opportunities.

A spokeswoman said, "It will help provide the strong anchor the town centre needs to keep local residents shopping in Abergavenny as well as attracting new shoppers and visitors to the town, benefiting other town centre businesses.

"The proposed new store would offer Morrisons full range of goods and services, incorporating Morrisons unique Market Street fresh food counters including butchers, bakers and fishmongers. A café, customer conveniences and shoppers car park with 269 spaces will also be included."

Speaking on behalf of Morrisons, development executive, Mark Thompson, said, "We know that this is a very important development for Abergavenny and we are aware of the high level of interest within the local community.

"We have consulted extensively with the Council and various other groups and individuals over the last few months to ensure that the proposal we finally put forward is the right solution for Abergavenny as well as Morrisons.

"At our public exhibition in September we had a really good attendance of over 500 people, representing a good cross section of the local community. Support for the proposal was extremely high with over 69 per cent of visitors who completed a comment form backing the plans.

"The feedback we received was very comprehensive and valuable and we are really grateful to everyone who came to that event for taking the time to give such detailed remarks. This feedback, together with extensive pre-application discussions with Monmouthshire County Council planning officers, has helped us to finalise our plans, which we have amended as far as possible to accommodate these consultation responses.

Mr Thompson added, "Whilst it is not possible to take on board all the comments and feedback received, we have tried to address key points and we are confident that we now have a scheme that responds to the key areas of concern.

"In particular, we have addressed the comments about the roofscape and provided two further pedestrian access points from Lion Street into the car park, one with a direct link to the store entrance."

All the scheme amendments are discussed in more detail in the design and access statement submitted with the planning application.

Mr Thompson added, "We don't yet have a date for the application to be determined, but we are hopeful that the Council will deal with the application as swiftly as possible".