2010 A year of great expectations....

4th January 2010.

David Cummings, Chairman of Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce commented "A very Happy New Year to you all and your families from your local Chamber of Commerce.

2010 promises to be an exciting year for the town with events and exhibitions planned for the Centenary of the Death of Charles Rolls from February until October. The Chamber are keen that visitors and the general public should have easy access to information as to what is going on in 2010 and have set up a website at www.monmouthevents.co.uk. No doubt events will be well publicised in the local press and in the county wide Monmouthshire County Council produced What's On Guides, with official events under the control of the Town Council .

There has been much talk of the benefits of the Ryder Cup to our area and Visit Wales, formerly the Wales Tourist Board, have plans to create a sense of place and occasion for visitors to the Ryder Cup and to emphasis its Welsh connection. Monmouthshire County Council is actively promoting the event in the new 2010 Wye Valley and Vale of Usk Guide and on their website. The event will run from 27^th September to 3^rd October at the Celtic Manor and, for those lucky enough to obtain tickets, there is planned to be a park and ride facility at Usk Showground for those approaching the event from the north.

This spring we will see the completion of exterior works on the impressively restored Shire Hall building. I have seen images of the meticulous work in progress being undertaken to create a building of which we can all be proud. It is important that when all is completed that we not only acknowledge the work that has been done by the contactors, but also the years or preparation given by the Shire Hall stewards, county council officers and councillors. Once work is completed on the shops in Church Street, this will no doubt create a quality shopping environment for visitors and locals alike at the top of town.

We were pleased to see in 2009 continuing demand from small businesses for any shops that became vacant and evidence suggests that this trend will continue in 2010 to provide a unique blend of products and services on offer for the shopper. New businesses selling luxury chocolates, Thai meals, toys, jewellery, giftware, paintings, objet d'art and homeware completed the picture in 2009.

The Chamber would like to thank the public for turning out in such numbers to the Chamber arranged CCTV meeting in February 2009 and also the Local Development Plan Candidate Sites meeting in November, with another Candidate Sites meeting to take place at sometime in February 2010.

Notice of public meeting....

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING CALLED BY MONMOUTH CHAMBER OF TRADE AND COMMERCE (MDCTC) TO BE HELD

AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH, WHITECROSS STREET

AT 6PM ON 17^TH NOVEMBER 2009.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION ON THE MONMOUTHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (MCC) LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (LDP)

PREFERRED STRATEGY

You will be aware that in the summer the Town Council held a number of meetings to gain the public's response to proposals to consider for development a number of sites around the town for housing development and, in several cases, mixed housing and commercial development. These sites were put forward by MCC after they received submissions of land for consideration from, mainly, local landowners. These sites are called "Candidate Sites".

A number of larger Candidate Sites have already been reviewed by MCC staff and a preferred Strategic Mixed Use site (CS 0219) , located going out of town just past the Wonastow Road Industrial Estate has been put forward by MCC as the preferred new site to take 400 new homes in the ten year period to 2020. The other 421 new homes proposed, have already been built, are planned to be built, or are on small infill sites.

In view of the fact that many Chamber members are also residents of the town,  the Chamber committee decided to make a review of the proposals and submitted to the Development Plans Manager in July , a list of members' comments and concerns. The Chamber, in our submission, also requested a series of further public meetings at which residents could raise their concerns with the county council officers responsible for the selection of Candidate Sites. One or more Candidate Sites would be put forward in 2010 for later consideration by the Inspector appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2011.

MCC have now agreed to take part in one meeting at which the Development Plans Manager and the Head of Planning will be available to answer questions on specific Candidate Sites. This meeting will be chaired by MCC Area Working staff. MCC staff will bring to the meeting to be displayed, a map of the town and surrounding area clearly showing all individual Candidate Sites with the Candidate Sites (CS) reference.

It is essential, in order to gain maximum benefit and understanding of the current situation with Candidate Sites, that all those attending familiarise themselves, prior to the meeting, with the overall concept of the LDP and the meaning of the words "Candidate Sites". This information can be found on the MCC website at www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/ldpconsultation and then click on Studies and Candidate Sites .This will not be a meeting to discuss the LDP in general. For those without access to the Internet there is a copy of the Local Development Plan (LDP) for the public to view at the MCC Monmouth One Stop Shop. It would also be useful for those attending and asking questions, if they were able to refer to the individual Candidate Site(s), which were of particular interest to them.

Please note that if you have any questions prior to the public meeting, relating to the LDP and Candidate Sites, these should be referred to MCC and not the Chamber of Commerce.

David Cummings

£10 MILLION EXPRESSION OF INVESTORS CONFIDENCE IN THE TOWN....

11th September 2009.

£10 MILLION EXPRESSION OF INVESTORS CONFIDENCE IN THE TOWN

David Cummings , Chairman of Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce commented :

"The Chamber is very encouraged by £10 million plus of private and public investment into Monmouth that is underway, or is due to start in the next two years, on various projects. Major projects include the Shire Hall , 20-24 Monnow Street and the new hotel planned for the Portal Road; the latter two projects subject to normal planning applications.

Work has begun again on the shops at the St Mary's Church end of Church Street now that planning obstacles have been overcome, and we understand that some have already been let. It appears that Monmouth, despite the economic down turn, has not suffered from the image of decline experienced in some towns and cities where empty shop levels reached 15% with no demand from new businesses. Indeed, September in Monmouth will see the continuation of a six month period of new shop, restaurant and café openings, with yet more to come in the next few weeks.

We are very pleased to hear from Monmouthshire County Council that the successful bidder for the development of the Portal Road site for a hotel has been notified and look forward to communicating directly with that company at the end of the exchange of contracts period. Readers will be aware, from previous statements made by the Chamber, of the paramount importance that the creation of more serviced accommodation capacity is to the town and the likely immense benefit this will give to local business.

2009 has been a year of great events including the Women's Festival in March, the Festival in July and the extremely well attended Monmouthshire Show last month. 2010 promises to be an even more exciting year in commemoration of the Centenary of the Death of Charles Rolls, including a possible flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight over the town on 12^th July and the procession of 200 vintage Rolls Royce cars on 25^th July , which is Carnival Day. The enhancement of pre existing events is planned from January to October under the umbrella title of the Festival of Air promoted by Adventa. The Chamber is setting up a new website at www.monmouthevents.co.uk to keep visitors, businesses and locals notified as to what events are going on.

2010 will also be the year of the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor and we will in October be uploading a page to the Chamber website to provide the latest information with links to key sites. We understand that tickets have now been allocated from the first ballot , with accommodation providers being contacted ticket holders and that contractors will know soon if they have been selected to undertake work during the event. For more information go to www.rydercup2010.com

Monmouth maintains its interest to the shopper with a wide and expanding range of goods on offer from small, independent shops to larger, national chains. For the visitor, there is also our unique blend of historic buildings and outdoor activities. The Chamber applauds the efforts made by all proactive citizens of the town and area to enhance the profile of Monmouth locally, nationally and internationally and the Chamber of Commerce will continue to be an active participant in this quest to ensure the future economic sustainability for the town.

The focus of the next Chamber meeting on 28^th September at 6pm , kindly hosted by Nine Yards patisserie and deli, will be "Support for business" and the Chamber would like to welcome any new businesses to the town to the meeting. Also, anyone who is just thinking about setting up a new business in the town . Please email our secretary Brian Ramsey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like to attend on behalf of your business."

20-24 Monnow Street - an update

It is now more than a year since the scheme for the re-development of Christophers and Merlins was first published. I thought it a good time to give you a personal update as many local people have been asking me about what is happening.

The scheme, as originally presented to you, is unchanged in principle - with a retail arcade of small and larger retail units leading through to the top Chippenham carpark (and possibly a relocated Monmouth market) and housing on upper floors. There have of course been changes in detail. The project has also made it into Vision Monmouth which is a welcome vindication of the thinking behind the scheme.

In particular, the planners want the front of No. 20 (Christophers), which is a listed building, to be restored and remain basically unchanged.  The developer has agreed to do this as phase 1 of a proposed 3 stage programme. Documentation for this was submitted a few weeks ago for planning and listed building approval. Phase 2 will be for the frontage of Nos. 22 and 24 and Phase 3 will be the redevelopment of the burgages at the rear of all three properties, opening views into Nelson's Garden and the proposed re-configuration of the car parking.

At this stage the thought is that all the upper floor accommodation will be for social housing, which has benefits to Monmouth's social housing stock but also means a significant net gain in additional public parking space.

One of the big question marks remains the developer's proposal to provide a new home for Monmouth market. Our public consultation exercise last year and our initial survey of market traders suggested this would be a welcome development. County Council officers are not against this in principle - providing the legal issues surrounding the Charter can be resolved and that HLF don't have a problem with losing the market from the Shirehall site when restoration is complete.

As you may already know, this is a funded project that can go ahead as soon as permissions are obtained. Also, there has been significant interest from major national retailers, but they will not wait around for ever. It is a sizeable piece of investment for the town and will create both construction and retail jobs.

There are however some real concerns over the urgency with which the scheme is being progressed at County Hall. We are not aware of any unresolved issues but, like Westminster, it seems that decision making there may have closed down for the Summer! Anything you can do to move things along would be greatly appreciated.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you want further information.

Kindest regards

Alastair

Alastair Robertson           Tel/Fax: 01600 715 781

Q-West Consultants        Mobile : 07774 102 676

Ty'r Wennol                     E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Croes Faen

Penallt

Monmouthshire  NP25 4SB