Town boss defends market closure plan
ROCHDALE’S council leader has defended the move to close the market after it was deemed ‘no longer financially viable’.
Both the outdoor market, currently located on The Butts, and the indoor food hall in the former Santander building, will cease trading from midOctober.
Council leader Allen Brett has bullishly defended the move which came as a result of declining interest and absent traders - and says the market is only closing ‘in its current form’.
He said: “We are not losing a market because the market is hardly existing - we will still have a market, we will have the artisan market (which comes to Rochdale on one Saturday every month). We are not losing a market, but the market in its present form will not be trading.”
Coun Brett said the artisan market could potentially operate in Rochdale more frequently.
“We have still got the market charter, we will still run markets as and when they need to be run,” he added.
The market has been run by the council since September last year, when it severed ties with the specialist firm it appointed to oversee the operation in 2017.
The authority had previously taken back control of the market charter after its long-time base at the Exchange Shopping Centre was sold in 2013. But bosses say the last 12 months have seen the number of regular traders halved, resulting in losses of between £3k and £4k per month after costs are deducted.
“We can’t subsidise it to the tune of £5k a month,” Coun Brett said. “They’ve already been subsidised for several months while we make savings elsewhere, it’s not fair on ratepayers in Rochdale.”
The council says efforts to maintain the market had not been successful and stallholders’ proposals for running the market themselves were said to be ‘not viable’ by the council after ‘careful consideration’.
Coun Brett denied that the council had failed the town’s market traders.
“No, I don’t think the council has let them down, we’ve given them every opportunity going,” he said.
Since 2015 traders have moved from their long time home in the Exchange Shopping Centre to temporary sites in Smith Street and Yorkshire Street.
The long-delayed move to The Butts, in August last year, was meant to see the renaissance of the market and play a key role in revitalising the town centre. Some councillors have been of the opinion that traders would need to wait for the new Rochdale Riverside development to open next Easter before seeing a real upsurge in footfall.
But the council says it cannot continue to lose money in the meantime although Coun Brett added: “If someone wants to come back with some plans, then we will look at them.”
The final trading day for Rochdale market will be Monday, October 14.