LEADING architects Ove Arup are to design the new Monnow crossing at the southern entrance to Monmouth and "possibly" major redevelopment of the adjacent cattle market site.

Monmouthshire County Council's Chris Jones and a project team assembled by Ove Arup's Cardiff office met all day on Friday last week to hammer out the finer points of the deal.

"We have £1.5 million earmarked for the crossing but we will need to look at funding from other sources for the cattle market if we decide to create a quality arrival point for the town," Mr Jones told the Review.

The new crossing is to replace the ancient Monnow Bridge and bypass what has long been a traffic bottleneck.

"It is an ancient monument and it has been damaged by high-sided vehicles. It has weight and height restrictions," said Mr Jones, adding that a whole rethink to the approach to the town was long overdue, especially with increased traffic expectations.

The £100,000 design project is within Monmouth County Council's capital programme and also attracts £20,000 from the Welsh Development Agency's town improvement grant programme.

The Welsh School of Architecture and landscape architects Camlin Lonsdale will be working with Ove Arup and the county council on the new crossing project.

It is expected that the designs will be ready by March and when they are approved and details settled work should begin in 2001.

Announcing the project the county council said it was pleased to make a start and pleased that Ove Arup had been chosen to undertake the design.

The company is no stranger to bridge work, having designed award-winning bridges throughout the world. It also advises on bridge safety and strengthening, and one recent project has been making the road bridge at Chepstow stronger to carry heavier traffic.

The exciting project would create a bridge of notable quality, redevelop the southern entrance into the town centre and help to reshape the future of Monmouth in the new millennium.

A spokesman for Ove Arup said he was "delighted" they had been awarded the work and were eager to make a start.