Markets firm seeks £1m bailout by council

A PRIVATE firm which runs markets across Doncaster has requested a bailout of nearly £1m just over a year after it took over control from the council.

Cabinet members are expected to subsidise Essex-based Markets Asset Management (MAM) to the tune of £910,000 until March 2022. The pandemic and the inevitable downturn of market footfall during the peak of lockdown is being blamed for the call for financial assistance.

Council bosses said without financial support and investment, it was “highly unlikely” that MAM would be able to continue as a business entity and therefore the service currently provided by them would cease.

Following the successful tender in 2019, MAM proposed significant investment of £6.2m over the 25-year contract period, which included £2.3m of this to be spent in the first five years of the tenure.

At present, MAM are “actively seeking a new investment partner” but council bosses say it is “very unlikely” that investment is anywhere near the planned scale which will happen within the next three years.

Council bosses predict a reduction in the number of traders across both Doncaster and Mexborough markets after allocation of government business grants and opportunities for retirement/alternative employment take up over the next uncertain year. Market traders have been eligible and received Business Support Grants.

Drew Oxley, head of trading services at Doncaster Council, said: “This proposal would see the markets management model maximising its position to develop opportunities, contributing to create jobs, growth and revenue through the generation of new small businesses and rents.”

Mayor Ros Jones and her cabinet are expected to sign off on the scheme at a meeting on Tuesday, September 1.