FURTHER bleak news about Morrisons wobbling position in the market place has fuelled further ‘will they - won’t they’ speculation about the chain’s move to Abergavenny.

Last week the Bradford-based company announced the closure of 11 supermarkets across the UK with the loss of 900 jobs.

The company’s continued reversal of fortunes sparked yet more debate about the chances of the Abergavenny venture getting off the ground.

For the moment their proposed location - the bomb site which is the old livestock market - remains abandoned with little sign of builders moving.

And the deadlock will be raised at today’s (Thursday) full meeting of Monmouthshire County Council where member Debby Blakebrough is set to ask, “Council will have noted the recent announcement from Morrisons of declining profits, the closure of a number of outlets and the sale of their convenience stores. The company has also withdrawn from a number of new-build projects.

“Given that state of affairs, will the Cabinet Member inform us as to when he last met with Morrisons management, what assurances he has been given about the Abergavenny development, what timescale is envisaged for completion of the project and whether he remains confident that it will in fact go ahead?”

She told the Chronicle before the meeting, “In the light of the recent announcement of 11 stores being closed my fear is that Morrisons will not arrive in Abergavenny.

“Residents want to know if the store is coming and - if not - what is plan B for the site?”

A spokesman for Morrisons was non-committal about the issue when asked for a comment by the paper.

She said, “At this stage we don’t have any new news to update you on. Once we are in a position to make an announcement we will drop you a line.”

The company stands to lose a substantial deposit it made if it fails to execute its option in Abergavenny.

It has admitted it faces a ‘long journey’ to overturn its fortunes, with pre-tax profits having almost halved in six months.

Some 140 ‘M’ local convenience stores have been offloaded by the company as part of its fight to stay competitive.

Fears have been expressed that Morrisons may be concentrating their future prospects on online business at the expense of superstore developments.