AN Abergavenny businessman is concerned that local people have not had a reasonable chance to comment on the Morrisons' plan for the Cattle Market site reports Lesley Flynn.

Colin Watson said he checked the Monmouthshire County Council website last week and was surprised to find that only 11 people had submitted objections, support or comments on the scheme.

Morrisons have submitted a scheme to build a 25,000 square foot supermarket with a butcher's, bakery and fishmonger included. The store will create 280 local job opportunities and will include a cafe and toilets. There will be car parking spaces for 269 shoppers.

A public exhibition of their plans, which will include a new public library on the site, was held in September and visited by more than 500 people. A spokesman for Morrisons said the scheme was supported by 69 per cent of those who attended.

George Ashworth, head of planning for Monmouthshire County Council said it is not yet known when the scheme will be considered by the county planning committee. They are still waiting for responses from bodies such as the Assembly highways department and Cadw, the body responsible for ancient monuments in Wales.

He said people who want to voice their opinions can write to the planning department at Monmouthshire County Council, call in at the One Stop Shop in the Town Hall or make their comments online at Hyperlink http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk">http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk by clicking on, planning (in Popular Pages) and typing in the application number 1065.