We should cherish market - not shut it

I read with utter dismay your article about the proposed improvements to the city centre [‘High street boulevard’, February 20], which include destroying our valuable market. I thoroughly understand the need to cheer up our dreary city but your artist’s impression of the future amounts to nothing more than ‘dreary with trees’.

We need to understand how the world has changed. People increasingly buy online and it will take more than gentrification to tempt them back to shops, when they can buy what they want cheaper and more easily from the comfort of their sofas. No one will come for a second look at a poshed-up city centre.

The market was enormous fun in the days when it was in Market Way. People came from miles around to buy an astonishing variety of goods. Since those glory days the market has been chivvied from pillar to post by successive councils.

When Woolworths closed, I suggested to the then-city council that the building would make an ideal indoor market, which could be open every day. The building’s proximity to the bus station would allow people to shop at the market by bus or take advantage of park and ride. The reply to my suggestion was much less than positive. Market traders have not always been well treated in Canterbury. A few years ago we had an excellent fish stall. The rent was raised until the fishmonger got the hump and went to Herne Bay Saturday market, where he thrives. York has an indoor inner city market which has flourished on the same site for 500 years. Leeds and Bolton both have vast indoor markets purposebuilt by the Victorians. What they all have in common is the huge number of shoppers they attract. We should be cherishing our market, expanding it, giving it a permanent home and making it somewhere everyone in Kent wants to visit and enjoy.

Oaten Hill Place, Canterbury

■ Canterbury’s market is ever-popular and has been part of our city centre for a very long time. But will this generation of market traders be the last, sacrificed by Canterbury City Council as the collateral damage needed to enable their proposed gentrification of public space?

The long overdue refurbishment of St George’s Street public realm must be the catalyst that drives a holistic change, encompassing the old and the new, traditional and innovative. It is definitely not the time to sanitise what residents and visitors see, nor to end up becoming nothing more than a tacky extended shop front to big business. There is scope for our city to have vibrant and interesting shops in Whitefriars and the rest of the city centre, markets in the centre that are artisan, street food that is delicious and a city centre general market where we can buy anything from a locally grown cauliflower to an inexpensive coat for the kids.

The Labour group of councillors, with the support of Rosie Duffield MP, will continue to campaign to keep the general market and deliver a city centre that seeks to be different. One that is the secure home of a general market, a place for performance, street art and

Gazette reader Peter Gainey sent in this picture of ominous clouds looming over Neptune’s Arm breakwater in Herne Bay the artisan. A space to promote small business and a whole lot more. There are seven days in a week and 365 days in a year. We don’t need to close a general market - we need to gain events and markets for five more days every week. Our vision of a busy exciting and ever-changing city centre would undoubtedly bring customers to both shops and markets. It is that vibrancy that will secure this city’s future, not just £600,000 of paving and trees. It is together that businesses, traditional and new, will secure a future, working through the evolving retail world in the city they choose to share with its residents and visitors. Cllr Alan Baldock

Leader of Canterbury Labour Group

■ Plans for the redevelopment of St George’s Street contain some welcome initiatives such as extra seating and provision of cycle racks. While supportive of planting new trees, the felling of all five existing mature ones is regrettable. Mature trees have so many benefits in terms of pollution amelioration, biodiversity and carbon storage and also provide shade and character.

Canterbury District Green Party would like to see a modified scheme which at least retains mature trees at either end of the street. This would complement the linear, rather uniform look of the proposed new street scheme. We object to the loss of the market and would urge the council to reconsider. We are lucky to have a traditional market selling an array of things, including much-valued fresh seasonal produce. Markets offer a more sustainable shopping option and attract people into the city centre, adding vibrancy and character to the area. Similar cathedral cities such as St Albans celebrate their local market and we in Canterbury should do likewise. Removing the market to accommodate “different kinds of street traders”, as the council puts it, is discriminatory against existing traders who work in all weathers to provide friendly service to the people of Canterbury. Speaking to the traders, it is clear their views have not been considered, despite their livelihoods being at stake. To support their petition to save the market, go to the council website or to one of the market stalls, where a copy can be signed.

Canterbury District Green Party supports the market traders and agrees with Steve Bamber, of Canterbury Market Traders Association, that the best solution is to “improve not remove”.

Canterbury District Green Party St Augustine’s Rd, Canterbury