Concerns have been raised by Monmouth residents about the state of the Monnow Bridge gatehouse.

At a recent town council people and places meeting (October 11), councillors were told residents were frustrated by the amount of pigeon mess on the road over the Monnow Bridge.

It has been suggested that Monmouth Town Council writes to Monmouthshire County Council, with whom they have their cleaning contract, and ask them to thoroughly clean the Monnow Bridge gatehouse once a week.

Cllr Dewhurst pointed out that the gutters of the gatehouse were cleaned earlier this year and if the pigeons remain, they may need more regular cleaning.

Cllr Terry Christopher said: “This is an ongoing complaint, the state of that particular area, and we are paying £26,000 a year to keep the town clean.”

Cllr Rod Smith added that he thought there was a problem with the cleanliness of the street in general. He said he agreed that the state of the Monnow Bridge was a ‘disgrace’ but also that other streets are equally as bad.

The meeting decided that the next course of action should be to write to the county council and see what could be done regarding cleaning up the bridge.

In September 2019, the Beacon reported on a number of coping stones which were removed from the bridge, which have not yet been returned.