About Us
Our Objectives
In 2024 we changed our constitutional objects to more fully explain our purposes:
The Society is established for public benefit and for the following purposes in Abergavenny and its surrounding areas to:
- Encourage a high standard of the design of buildings and the spaces around them, and town and country planning policy and development management generally, in consultation with and by objective responses to the Local Planning Authority and other organisations;
- Seek development of the area in a manner that is environmentally and economically sustainable;
- Raise awareness by stimulating public interest and discussion, both critical and appreciative, of the history, future and character of Abergavenny and the built environment and green spaces of the town and its setting;
- Encourage active community involvement in the conservation, development and environmental improvement of the town and district for the benefit of residents and visitors;
- Pursue these ends by means of meetings, exhibitions, lectures, and publications, initiating or supporting projects and other appropriate actions, in co-operation with other local and national organisations and individuals. The subject of meetings and lectures may extend beyond the four aims above to relate to the wider well-being of the town and its surroundings.
The Society shall have no political or religious affiliation and shall be non-profit making.
Our Full Constitution is HERE
Our Meetings
Normally at the Methodist Church Hall, Castle Street, starting at 7.30 pm. Non-Members welcome with a small charge. This programme is subject to amendment if circumstances change, but Members are informed by email.
14 September – Monmouthshire Housing Association (MHA) – More than just Bricks and
Mortar with Rob Carey – Senior Engagement Officer
MHA is at the heart of the community, providing over 4,000 homes to more than 5,500 tenants. But it
is about more than housing, as it delivers community development initiatives, ensuring tenant voices
shape and improve service delivery. It creates stronger, more resilient communities where people can
thrive, grow and prosper.
*5 October – AGM at 7PM followed by ‘A Grand Landscape Masterplan’.
All progressive health care projects now recognise the vital contribution of nature to well-being. Plans
in detail have been developed through consultation for our unique Nevill Hall Hospital landscape and
there is funding for 2026-27 to start making improvements. Patrick Hannay and Tom Williams of
Nevill Hall Nature Space CIO will present those detailed plans seeking your support.
9 November – The Future of Nevill Hall hospital with Hannah Evans and Natalie North,
ABUHB Executives
Hannah Evans and Natalie North are keen to give us an update following their first meeting with us, the
subsequent consultation exercise and the Health Board’s deliberations.
14 December – Members of Abergavenny Borough Band with Lana Tanguy
A chance to socialize over mince pies and mulled fruit punch with superb entertainment.
January 2027 – an opportunity to get together over lunch – date tbc
8 February – Linda Vista Gardens developments – Nigel Leaworthy and Mark Cleaver from
the MCC Grounds Team will talk about the proposed developments at Linda Vista Gardens following
the award of a grant of £100,000 from Welsh Government. Abergavenny Town Council provided
essential additional funding at the bid application stage.
8 March – Overlooked No More: The Life and Work of Abergavenny-Born Author Ethel Lina
White – Alex Csurko
Alex, whose PhD was on Ethel Lina White and is regarded as an on the authority on her life and work,
will talk about this celebrated interwar author who dominated the suspense and thriller genre alongside
Agatha Christie but then fell into obscurity. New information will be in his talk.
12 April – Why have Purple Plaques? – Nancy Cavill, Welsh Labour Group’s senior policy
officer at the Senedd will tell us something about the significance of Purple Plaques. Should we
have some in Abergavenny as to-date we do not appear to?
10 May – Caring About Our Built Heritage – Molly Edwards, MCC’s Principal Heritage
Officer will describe the challenges she faces to look after the county’s Listed Buildings and
Conservation Areas’.
14 June – Forgotten parts of Abergavenny: The Workhouse quarter – Dr Joan Allen will shed
light on this fascinating area of Abergavenny in collaboration with the Local History Society.
Our Committee (2024/25)
- Chair
- Vice Chairs
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Other Members
- Tony Konieczny
- Dick Cole; Vacant
- Jay Shipley
- Ian Vicary
- Philip Bowyer, Rob Brittlebank, Clive Bransom, Sue Konieczny, Peter Johns, Alan Michie, Julie Miles, Stan Pochron, David Sheers, Judith Vicary
Our History
Few records of the Society’s affairs have survived until 1987 when the chairman recalled twenty years of tree planting, the provision of seats, school competitions, photography, campaigning for shopfront improvements, litter clearing and producing leaflets. The Society claimed to have improved the Frogmore Street appearance of the Radstock Court flats, probably thanks to local architect Richard Merton Jones who dealt with most planning applications for many years. The town centre conservation area was designated in the 1970s and by 1987 there was a much more cautious Draft Abergavenny Local Plan, but we know nothing of the Society’s reactions to this plan or others such as the Gwent Structure Plan and the Monmouth District Local Plan. The draft Unitary Development Plan of 1998 was welcomed with some cynicism about whether the extra houses were needed and about safe cycling and walking routes;
In a busy 1988 the Society strongly opposed the short ‘western by-pass’ (to become the ‘link road’ built in mid 90s) favouring a longer route relieving Glangrwyney and Crickhowell; pedestrianisation of Nevill Street was opposed as it would cause traffic problems elsewhere, and it was considered impracticable to restrict delivery hours; and there were strong objections to the ‘turkey factory’ at Hardwick.
Threats to buildings such as the Tithe Barn, the Baptist Church in Market Street and Pen y Fal hospital buildings were a continuing concern, with protective listing sought and sometimes secured.
The livestock market relocation saga began in 1993 with a proposal to move it to Llanfoist; the Raglan site was planned by 1999 when a supermarket was first proposed for the town centre site and opinion was divided between opposition to loss of the market and support for a sensitively designed multi-use redevelopment; an alternative Abergavenny Development Forum Brewery Yard scheme was welcomed in 2001; an Asda scheme on the market site was opposed in 2004. Morrisons first application was opposed in 2010, criticism focussing on the need for an active frontage to Lion Street and saving historic stone market buildings, and in 2012 a report on the feasibility of retaining the market was commissioned – dismissed by MCC as ‘fatally flawed’. Despite strong Society objections, the present Morrisons store eventually received planning permission in 2017, the least sympathetic of several preceding proposals with Society objectives.
The preparation and adoption of the Local Development Plan 2011-2021 took from 2008 until early 2014 with several stages of consultation. MCC records indicate opposition to growth of the urban area, especially the ‘candidate sites’ including Deri Farm, Mardy, which was allocated in the final plan.
By 2009 the Society needed revitalisation and Tony and Sue Konieczny and Stefan Horowskij initiated steps that led to a re-launch at an extraordinary general meeting in the following year. The story of that rebirth was later told in an article in the journal of the Civic Trust for Wales, available HERE.
Despite the Society’s considerably strengthened planning expertise, the Society has rarely found that its objections or comments on applications have resulted in improved approvals. Developments on the Westgate site at Llanfoist were notably disappointing.
The Society was particularly active in contributing to regeneration initiatives in the 2010s. These included the moves to establish a Business Improvement District with associated funding, rejected by a traders’ vote in 2015; planning the extensive public realm improvements in the shopping centre at the end of the decade; and active travel proposals, including the new bridge over the Usk. With help from others, the Society provided a seating area with raised flower beds at Fairfield car park. MCC’s Conservation Area Appraisal was welcomed in 2015 (apart from the exclusion of the market site) but we suggested further extensions of the designation (Hereford Road area and Lansdown Road). The Society’s close association with the Plas Gunter restoration project began in the same year. We were also active in steps to try to enhance the quality of the Gavenny river, frustrated by the Covid emergency in 2020.
In 2011 Abergavenny was chosen as one of three Welsh towns to be part of a Civic Trust for Wales project to develop a methodology of urban characterisation for towns in Wales. This detailed documentation of the character of the varying districts of the town outside the town centre occupied Society members until the outcome was exhibited in 2017, with a £5 summary booklet published in the next year.
In 2018 the County Council began the lengthy process of replacing their Local Development Plan, extending it to 2033. The process was to be much interrupted by the Covid pandemic and political changes but the Society’s views have remained consistent. We strongly opposed early proposals that would have doubled the rate of housebuilding in the county with no likelihood of local employment for incomers; we wanted ‘green wedges’ between the town and the National Park and in the Gavenny valley. By 2025 we have conditionally accepted most of the more moderate proposals, welcoming the emphasis on affordable housing, higher building standards and a green wedge on the Park boundary, but our objections, made to protect those conditions, remain unresolved. The means of integrating a 600-home development east of the railway and the A465 with the rest of the town is a leading issue.
The Society and its members have been playing an increasing part in the Abergavenny in Bloom campaign, contributing to the town winning a Britain in Bloom Gold Award in 2023. Related to this has been our contribution to the provision of striking murals on boundary walls of Bailey Park; a public art strategy is a Society objective.
Development pressures have been constrained by phosphate pollution restrictions and slow development plan progress, but Society comments on the new King Henry VIII School resulted in little change and our objections to a property demolition and care home proposal in Pen y Pound have yet to be considered.
A bonus of the 2020 pandemic measures was the exclusion of traffic from Upper Cross Street and the growth of the town’s pavement café culture, which continue to add vitality to the town centre. Another consequence was the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme which promised funds for town centre public realm and building improvements if county and town councils prepared Placemaking Plans for their central areas. Preparation of that for Abergavenny started in late 2024 with the Society represented on the steering committee. Community consultation on the proposals in 2025 produced a large response and the final plan is expected by the end of the year. The Society has broadly welcomed the proposals but wants a greater focus on early delivery of results.
More detail is available HERE
