THE steering group for the design of the proposed new senior community at Grove Farm met with interested parties in Llanfoist last week.

The event was attended by organisations from the Llanfoist community along with care providers, senior nursing staff, representatives from affordable housing groups, councillors and those connected with local businesses.

The meeting was addressed by Lynda Steiner of the Gwent Alzheimer's Society who spoke on the improved awareness of the disease and its impact on society at large and she welcomed the proposals to establish a dedicated unit within the community.

The meeting then discussed the needs of the senior care community and the direction it should take and came up with a list of objectives for the group to aim for.

These include a leisure centre, restaurant / café hairdressers, pharmacy general store doctor's surgery, chiropodist allotments library and IT centre.

The group proposed that these representations would be put before the newly elected members of Monmouthshire County Council.

Farm owner Ben Jones (pictured) said, "There was a strongly held belief that such a facility would not only be a groundbreaking step towards coping with trends, which would be likely to increase an aging population, but also that the recognition of such provision would be central to the needs of a civilised and caring society.

The development is promoted as a positive step towards alleviating overwhelming stress on those affected and their carers.