UPDATE: 5.20pm

NEWPORT council say roads in Newport city centre will be closed from 'around 6.30am' for the demolition of Capitol Car Park.

A council spokesperson said the best public viewing area will be from the east bank riverside walk area, on the Rodney Parade side.

The city centre around the John Frost Square area and river front area will be closed from around 6.30am to around 10am on the morning of Sunday January 12. This will include roads leading to the city centre including Heidenheim Drive, Kingsway and Uskway.

There will be very limited access to the city centre before 10am apart from emergency vehicles only.

The spokesperson added retailers within the affected area had been informed of the demolition.

UPDATE: 1.32pm

THE derelict Capitol Car Park in Newport city centre will be demolished with explosives this Sunday, the Argus understands.

An exclusion zone will come into effect early on Sunday morning for the controlled demolition, with 11 roads due to be closed from as early as 7am in the morning.

The work will be conducted by the Cuddy Group, which is currently demolishing the car park, shops in John Frost Square and the old Newport Bus Station.

An official notice issued by Newport council says Heidenheim Drive – from the Harlequin Roundabout southbound slipway to the road's junction with Kingsway – will be closed, together with the southbound slipway linking the Harlequin Roundabout with Heidenheim Drive.

Kingsway, including on and off slip roads to Old Green Roundabout, will be closed for its entire length.

Uskway, from its junction with Kingsway to its junction with Granville Street, will be shut, as will Skinner Street, Corn Street, Upper Dock Street, Austin Friars, Friars Street, Llanarth Street and John Frost Square.

The order will allow the demolition of the capitol multi-storey car park to be carried out in a controlled and safe manner, according to the notice.

It is anticipated that the works will be completed within 30 minutes.

The Welsh Government has provided £1.5 million for the demolition work which will prepare the ground for Queensberry Real Estate to build the Friars Walk shopping and leisure development.

Newport council recently agreed to provide the developer a £90 million loan, which it will itself borrow from the Public Works Loans Board.