MONNOW Street in Monmouth is scheduled for resurfacing in mid-October, spearheading a major overhaul of Agincourt Square and the retention of the ‘pinch point’.

Operations manager for Monmouthshire County Council, Roger Hoggins, told the Beacon that the resurfacing of Monnow Street up to the junction with St John’s Street is programmed for mid-October.

“Meanwhile, our highways team has been in consultation with the Monmouth Town Team regarding a public realm scheme for Agincourt Square and officers have advised the group about the resurfacing and our intention to retain the narrowed section between St John’s Street and Agincourt Square,” he added.

Known locally as the ‘pinch point’, the extension to the pavement was built in 2015 on the pavement on both sides at the top of Monnow Street in an attempt to improve the safety of pedestrians, giving them more room away from the road.

The trial by MCC was equally liked and loathed by pedestrians and motorists and the effect on traffic and pedestrian safety was monitored by the council, holding up any resurfacing plans to Monnow Street until a decision was made whether to ‘keep it or bin it’.

Now the county council intends to keep the narrowed section, and work to construct a permanent feature will “employ quality materials” to adopt the temporary structure as a fixed part of the road.

A spokesman for MCC said that the upper reaches of Monnow Street are “insufficiently wide to accommodate the works and any controlled traffic programme so it will be necessary to apply street closures.

“The road will be closed as necessary although our highways team will plan the works to limit disruption as much as possible. This may involve night time closures.”

These works will be a precursor to any future plans to improve Agincourt Square which will adopt a similar standard and design to the pinch point.

Plans for a ‘shared space concept’ in Agincourt Square have been put forward by the Public Realm Group - a collaboration between town and community councils, the civic society, Monmouth 2020 Vision, Active Travel and officers from Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) - which they hope will enhance the historical and architectural beauty, and support trade and tourism for the future.

The idea is to recreate the square as it once was, but accommodating the road that must be maintained through it, using cobbled setts across the road and pavements, to delineate the square area, whilst limiting the road painting and graphics of a typical highway.

Out of a number of options on the table, the Public Realm Group decided on a plan to extend the scheme up to Iceland, but the first phase would be the immediate area in front of the Shire Hall - the historic cobbles to remain - and extend the plan once funds allowed. Setts would be used as they have a smoother surface than cobbles and would link with existing cobbles outside the Shire Hall, with the flagstone pavement being removed and redone, and ‘cobbled’ channel margins to indicate edge of pavement, and a possible slight dip in road height, in an attempt to delineate the pedestrian square area from the road with the minimum of road surface paint possible.

The Monmouth Town Team will shortly meet to consider artist impressions and drawings of the proposed design for Agincourt Square before a wider public consultation. If supported, county council officers will look to make a bid to the Welsh Government for funding to carry out these works.