FACEBOOK COMMENTS
WHAT you’ve been saying on our Facebook page: ●●ROCHDALE traders and customers admit market is failing but what’s the solution? (February 9): Judith Jones: Only one stall today and the dirty buildings behind. Rochdale Council you should be ashamed - this is a total shambles! How on earth do you expect traders to earn a living and customers keep returning when this is what’s left of a once thriving market? So sad. Samantha Kellie: Rochdale council...really, you call that a market? The old market has been empty for years losing thousands of pounds over the years yet you go spend millions on a new shopping centre when half the shops in the Wheatsheaf Centre have been forced to close! Pound shops...phone shops...nail bars? Not to mention charity shops! Bring back OUR MARKET and listen to what the people of Rochdale want! Elaine Fay: It needs to go back indoors. It’s not being used so why not? At least you will get some money. Jades Mum: This market is a shambles. Customers don’t want to shop in the cold and wet weather yet the traders have to stand under plastic sheeting to try and make a living! Prioritise the market, bring it indoors and provide some toilets, cafes and seating, that will get increased customer spending. Where’s the point in hoping things pick up in summer? It will only die off again when it becomes winter! Shaz Mahmood: Put the market back where they used to be. What have they actually done with the old indoor and outdoor markets? They wanted more money for rents only for it to be left as a ghost town. Rochdale was thriving. Since the markets have gone it’s just become dead. Jade Amber Wright: It’s outside and it rains 99pc of the time in Rochdale. That’s why. Put it back indoors where it used to be and lower the prices of rent. Robin Percival: There’s so many Pound stores and discount retailers in the town that a large proportion of what could be bought in the market can be bought elsewhere. Except for fresh foods and they’re getting murdered by the Supermarkets anyway. It’s a tragedy of modern supply and demand coupled with the council’s half-hearted attempts and lack of support for the traders. I feel sorry for them they’ve been treated in a disgusting manner. ●●SPECIAL constables could have council tax bills halved to ‘reward volunteers’ (February 13): Danielle Duffy: To be fair all police officers, ambulance and NHS workers should get this discount. Adrian Lawrence: Staff get paid. Volunteers don’t. That’s why it doesn’t get rolled out across the board. Martyn Cummings: Good on them. I agree with this. Might persuade more people to recruit. Gary Osbaldeston: Be nice to see all emergency workers get it. Steven Lett: It’s up to them whether they volunteer. No one made them. They get a free uniform. Christopher Henstock: I don’t begrudge the giving of a few benefits to anyone who entered into voluntary public service, asking for nothing in return. How mean-spirited do you have to be to moan about that? These people are obviously net contributors to their communities. At the same time, this shouldn’t be used to justify the under-investment that creates the need for voluntary service. Employ more people and pay them properly. Tax the corporations and the super-rich to pay for it. This is simple logic, not revolutionary tubthumping.