A NEW £5million livestock market for farmers in Monmouthshire and Newport will officially open at the end of the month.

The opening marks the end of a decade of controversial debate and negotiations over the future of the current livestock market in Abergavenny, which is due to close to make way for a Morrisons supermarket as part of a scheme to regenerate the site.

Work to build the new state-of-the-art market at Bryngwyn, near Raglan, began in November.

The 27-acre site will feature a main 3,689 sq m building and a support building to house a ring, offices, toilets, lobby and café and parking for almost 160 vehicles.

It will be operated by Abergavenny and Newport Market Auctioneers Ltd on a 20-year lease. Countryfile presenter and farmer Adam Henson will cut the ribbon at the opening, which takes place at 11am on November 29, and the first sales are expected to begin in December.

A spokesman for Monmouthshire council said: “We promised that the livestock market would open this autumn and we are delighted that it has happened on time.”

“We are also delighted that we have delivered on our promise to provide Monmouthshire farmers with a livestock market which is fit for purpose.”

The new site at Bryngwyn will mark the end of an era in Abergavenny, where a livestock market has operated for 150 years. In 2011, the council was granted permission to demolish the market to make way for a multi-million-pound Morrisons supermarket and library. The 25,000 sq ft store will include 20 percent non-foods, a café and kiosk and 269-space car park.

Last year, Welsh Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant lifted an ancient law which protects a livestock market in Abergavenny town centre. He said the decision to lift the Abergavenny Improvement Acts of 1854 and 1871 meant Monmouthshire council was no longer legally obliged to hold a market in the town centre and could relocate it to Bryngwyn once a new market was built there. Mr Sargeant said the ancient powers were no longer needed because there were more modern powers available to councils governing livestock markets.

The council’s deputy leader, Councillor Bob Greenland, assured farmers that Abergavenny livestock market would not close until the new market at Bryngwyn was up and running.