Caldicot 'is being left behind' (From Free Press Series)

Caldicot 'is being left behind'

CALDICOT town centre is being 'neglected' and left to become a 'hostile environment' avoided by high street retailers, an angry town councillor claims.

Chepstow's £1.3 million town centre regeneration is being helped by £500,000 of European funding.

And that has fuelled a row five miles away in Caldicot.

Town councillor James Harris says his authority has missed the boat and believes Caldicot urgently needs the kind of boost Chepstow will get when work is completed in November.

But, he says, other town councillors believe applying for European money is the responsibility of the county council.

The 50-year-old Indepe-ndent councillor said: "In January I finally got the council to debate proposals for applying for money from Europe."

But, he says, they were criticised by town council leader Jim Higginson and other members. Mr Harris said: "Our town centre is a hostile environment for any big retailer looking for new outlets, and it needs a total revamp.

"Following the closure of the nearby Llanwern steelworks, we need money to turn tourism into our future industry and we need more help with business start-up.

"We are entitled to apply for Objective Two Transitional Funding for all these things, just as Chepstow has, but our representatives just keep telling me it's not within their jurisdiction.

"I nearly cried when I read in the Argus what Chepstow have managed to pull off - they deserve it, though, they sorted themselves out."

Councillor Harris has pinned his plan for European funding on the wall of his chip shop in Caldicot to attract people's interest.

He said: "You can't tell the people of Caldicot who elected you that applying for funding to improve their homes and businesses is out of your jurisdiction."

A spokeswoman for Monmouthshire's economic development team confirmed that the town council is entitled to apply for such funding, as is any local partnership.

Town council leader Jim Higginson said: "All the projects Councillor Harris suggests need match funding from the county council because our £143,000 budget will obviously not suffice.

"Our town centre, regenerated only ten years ago, is smaller than Chepstow, we have no room to expand. Our priority is to bring in a second supermarket."