Every October we undertake a retail ‘health check’ of our five main towns (i.e. Abergavenny, Caldicot, Chepstow, Monmouth and Usk). These surveys involve recording the current ground floor use of buildings, the number of vacant units, rentable values and pedestrian counts during specific days of the week in each of the Central Shopping Areas. Every 5 years we also undertake a floorspace survey and a household survey.

The latest floorspace survey was undertaken in 2014, whilst the latest household survey was undertaken on behalf of the council in 2022 by Future Focus Research. The information collected is used to inform the Monmouthshire Local Development Plan and other regeneration development schemes. The most recent Retail Background Paper (January 2024) is for the year 2023.