Newport Market revamp: 'Cultural hooliganism' to cover window

An artist who designed a stained glass window in a city market says covering it with a developer's branding would be "an act of cultural hooliganism".

Developers LoftCo proposed the move as part of a £12m refurbishment of Newport Market backed by councillors this week.

Catrin Jones, who made the window in 2003, said it would be sad for Newport to lose another piece of art after the Chartist mural was demolished in 2013.

LoftCo said covering the window with a film would be "fully reversible".

Commissioned by Newport City Council as part of an earlier refurbishment of the market, Ms Jones said it was the largest stained glass window in Wales at 120 sq m (1292 sq ft) and represents "a significant work of public art in the UK".

While permission has been granted for the market redevelopment, a planning condition said no work can be carried out on the stained glass window until full details have been submitted by the developer and approved by the council.

Ms Jones said covering the window was "effectively no different from its removal, since it will preclude future public appreciation".

"This window is a significant element in Newport's present and future cultural heritage - to replace it with the developer's own branding would be an act of cultural hooliganism," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"The city of Newport lost an important work of public art when the Chartist mosaic mural was destroyed in 2013.

"It would be a considerable disappointment if another major work were to be lost now."

Simon Fenoulhet, who organised the window's commission for Newport council, said it had made "a huge visual improvement" to the market.

He called on the city to "assert its ownership and pride" in the artworks it had funded with public money for the people of Newport to enjoy.

Simon Baston, managing director of Loft-Co, said: "As with local authority guidelines we will now work through the relevant condition."