THE FUTURE of Abergavenny cattle market is not up for discussion says the leader of Monmouthshire Council as he tries to put together a coalition at County Hall.

Councillor Peter Fox is looking to form an alliance with opposition politicians after the election left the Conservatives three seats short of an overall majority.

But he says the redevelopment of the cattle market is not a bargaining chip in those talks.

Councillor Fox also dismissed rumours of an agreement with Labour - which made a manifesto commitment to scrap the redevelopment of the market and transfer the £5 million to education.

He said,"We are committed to a new cattle market as part of the overall regeneration of Abergavenny.

"The cattle market is an important part of that and I think it is simplistic to say you can remove one element of that.

"It was not an issue on the doorstep - nobody lost their seat or won a seat because they were for or against the cattle market.

"The issue in Abergavenny was how quickly can we get Morrisons into town."

Councillor Fox said he was confident an agreement with opposition figures would be in place this week.

He said: "What's important is that we form a stable administration, one that will go forward and build on the good work of the council in recent years.

"I am having talks with lots of individuals and I'm confident we will have an agreement by the end of the week. I think that when we had a minority administration in 1999 it was a very unproductive period - it was a case of two steps forward and three back, you never knew if you would have enough people to make progress."

After the final announcement was made at 5.30am on Friday morning, the Tories had 19 seats on Monmouthshire County Council leaving the party without a majority. Labour obtained 12 seats, the Independents 10 seats and Liberal Democrats three with an overall turnout of just 38 per cent.

Had the Conservatives not deselected three standing Tory councillors - Alan Wintle in Drybridge, Graham Down in Shirenewton and Val Smith in Llanbadoc, along with Bob Hayward in Dixton with Osbaston, who resigned from the Conservative party - all of whom were returned as Independent councillors, the party would still have overall control of the council.

Councillor Fox defended the de-selection decisions but admitted things could haven been handled better.

"It's not for me to say why the committee chose not to support standing Conservative candidates, but with hindsight things could have been viewed differently.

"However democracy has spoken and the authority has to make best use of the hand we have been dealt. For an effective but stable authority, politics has to be put to one side for the benefit of the electorate.

"We are in a good positive position as we have an influx of new, younger councillors and therefore the dynamic of the council has changed because of it."

Other independents claiming victory were John Marshall, the former Labour councillor for the Green Lane ward while James George was re-elected for the Lansdown ward as a member of the Labour party after defecting from the Liberal Democrats.

Jeff Mitchell, a Conservative councillor in the Trellech United area was ousted by independent candidate Debby Blakebrough by 131 votes who said in her acceptance speech,"Let the adventure begin."

However, one of the biggest surprises of the night was the loss of Andrew Crump, who was standing as an independent, but had previously been both a Tory councillor and leader of the council while representing Raglan for the past 21 years.

He lost out to the Conservative backed candidate Penny Jones by a mere nine votes.

In his farewell speech Mr Crump said that his 21 years of representing Raglan on the authority had been 'glorious', but emphasised, 'I will not be back.'

Councillor Phyl Hobson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that he was returned with the lowest turnout within the authority and added, "This election result is not a jubilation for any party in Monmouthshire. In fact it's the complete opposite, as it warns us that people are becoming more and more disengaged with politics. We need to gain the electorate's trust and their confidence back.

"We, the Liberal Democrats, have entered into informal talks with various groups and our policy is to make sure our decision reflects what is best for Monmouthshire; by providing a clear and stable majority so as important decisions can effectively be taken and whoever we work with in the future we must have our mutual trust and respect.

"At this stage we are not ruling anything out as everything is to play for in our overall objective of being part of a stable partnership for a five-year programme."

Councillor Fox added that talks behind the scenes were still ongoing and that, at the time of going to press, there had been no formal decision on who the Conservatives were likely to form a pact with.

Councillor Simon Howarth, Leader of the Independents on the council said: "We are siting tight, the Conservative's know where we are.

"We are not in any hurry to enter into any form of coalition. In reality, as a band of ten we expect to be a formidable force in opposition."