Thousands of petitioners who demanded the county council rethink a policy to strip a popular Abergavenny square of its seating arrangements have forced councillors into a climbdown this week.

Councillors announced on Monday that they have shelved plans to force the owners of the King’s Arms Hotel, and Get Together coffee shop to remove their popular outdoor seating by St John’s Square, due to safety concerns.

The controversial move was confirmed cancelled by Monmouthshire County Council’s deputy leader Bob Greenland, who said the wider debate over ‘street furniture’ led to the council backing down from its original proposals after some consideration.

“As we know from the news, town centre retailers throughout the UK are struggling,” said Councillor Greenland.

“For those in Monmouthshire their position has been made much worse because of a recent revaluation of business rateable values imposed by the Labour government in Wales.

“It seems extraordinary, but it is true that Cardiff has seen an overall reduction in rates whilst Monmouthshire has seen increases, some astronomic. We asked that these revaluations should be dropped, but this fell on deaf ears. We continue to press the case of our beleaguered retailers to ministers in Cardiff Bay.”

In a statement issued on Monday morning, Councillor Greenland said that Abergavenny-area councillors Giles Howard, Paul Jordan, Malcolm Lane, Maureen Powell, Sheila Woodhouse, and Jane Pratt had successfully worked alongside the cabinet to reverse the plans.

The about-turn includes proposed charges for street furniture, and display material placement.

“Whilst the charges were only intended to cover the costs of managing the policy, the  members accepted the view of their colleagues that in these very difficult times for our town centres, even these modest charges might be the straw that broke the camel’s back. We will consider the issue again at the next available cabinet meeting along with any comments that may come from councillor members of our scrutiny committees,” read the statement.

Following a grassroots campaign which collected thousands of signatures, and messages of support from locals keen to keep the popular square thriving, Councillor Bryan Jones said he wanted to build on that public enthusiasm whilst being mindful of concerns coming from the disabled community.

The cabinet member for highways, said, “We want to encourage vibrant town centres and traders using the space outside their premises helps to do that, but we also have to take heed of the views of groups representing those with physical disabilities that in some instances these objects on the pavements can be a danger. So the policy giving the Council control over street furniture will go ahead but we will ask officers to find other ways to meet the costs.”

Key campaigner Phillip Bowyer praised the decision as proof of grassroots’ power.

“This is a great victory for all those who stood up and made their voices heard. Following closely the decision on the railway bridge, it shows that people can influence politics if they act together.

“They can make governments, local councils make the right decisions.

“Let’s have an end to apathy and the ‘all politicians are the same’ kind of talk. We can make things better.

“It’s nice to see that local politicians were in the end able to change their minds faced with a determined public.”??

Over 2,000 people signed a petition in one week as the campaign gained backing from Abergavenny Mayor Councillor Teslin Davies, Nick Ramsay AM, and the Y Fenni Business Community.

Monmouthshire County Council originally proposed the move because of the narrow strip of road which separates the square from the outside seating areas could present a safety issue, despite the area being designated as a ‘shared space’ mindful of pedestrians and other users.

A council spokesperson said, “The existing policy is being reviewed by the Strong Communities Select Committee on 30 July.

The committee will consider feedback from public meetings and correspondence and any recommendations will be reported to the following cabinet meeting where decisions to change the policy would be made.