High streets ‘will benefit from £4.8m plan to boost markets’
MEASURES TO help boost Wakefield’s markets could help local high streets as well, senior councillors have said.
A £4.8m package to revive the fortunes of Wakefield, Pontefract, Castleford, Ossett, Normanton and South Elmsall markets was signed off at a cabinet meeting yesterday.
Outdoor traders will be handed permanent stall structures which will look “more appealing”, while Castleford and Pontefract’s market halls will be revamped. Stalls at Normanton and South Elmsall will be pushed closer to their respective high streets.
Coun Darren Byford, Wakefield Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, said: “The purpose of the investment is to improve our building stock, improve the appearance and feel of the markets, with the aim of attracting new customers and traders.”
Traders have taken a hit in recent years, with many blaming online retail and the connected loss of high street shops for their fortunes. The package of measures follows an in-depth review by Wakefield Council into the district’s six markets during 2019.
Coun Margaret Isherwood said: “It’s not just the markets. This will reinvigorate our town and city centres because the high street is in decline.
“We really need to look at new ways of approaching them. I think hopefully with this, we will start to see an improvement.”
Coun Les Shaw said he believed help for Castleford market would have a knock-on effect on footfall at nearby Carlton Lanes shopping centre.
Welcoming the investment, Coun Matthew Morley added that he felt there was scope for markets to become more environmentally-friendly.
Stallholders in Pontefract gave the proposed investment a cautious welcome last week, though some suggested their market’s decline was irreversible and that any new cash would be a “waste”.
Other traders have called for their rents to be slashed, but there is no prospect of that happening before the improvements are carried out.