WORK to build a new livestock market for farmers in Monmouthshire has begun.

The council’s contractors moved on to the 27-acre site at Bryngwyn, near Raglan, last week and started work on highways and access to the site.

Monmouthshire council, which bought the land at auction five years ago, is building a state-of-the-art livestock market to replace the current facility in Abergavenny when it closes.

The market will include a main 3,689 sq m building and a support building to house a ring, offices, toilets, lobby and café. The site would house 2,400 sheep and 790 cows and have parking for 40 cars and 130 lorries and trailers.

A livestock market has been held in the town for almost 150 years and its current site is part of a controversial redevelopment scheme to bring a Morrison’s supermarket and new library to the town.