Labour Council shows no sympathy for market traders nor the public

The refurbishment of the famous Chesterfield Market Hall was, inevitably, going to cause some upset - both to traders and to visitors. However, if the local Council pulls out the stops to mitigate the problem then affected traders and members of the general public will understand.

Exacerbating the mess, however, is the decision of Chesterfield's Labour Council - which has been to increase the costs of rents on market stalls by 3% this year despite the disruption, severe displacement of several traders, and footfall difficulties around New Square. Most rational people would naturally expect, during a rebuild period, for the cleansing budget to be increased or at least maintained. The Labour Council has slashed it --- so it is now not just more expensive to stand; the market is grimy and dirtier.

But the triple whammy is the failure of the Labour Council to do anything about temporary public toilets pending the closure of the Market Hall. A budget of almost £40,000 was put aside to cover 48 weeks of the rebuild. For the market traders there is still only a makeshift agreement with a local tenant and nothing at all for the general public. There doesn't appear to be any politician at the Town Hall on top of this deplorable state of affairs. Meanwhile, as usual, the inefficient Labour Council hangs on to a sum of £40,000 put aside for the project and continues to treat the market traders with contempt and dismisses the reasonable expectations of the general public.

Needless to say both footfall of shoppers and visiitors and stall occupancy of our "historic" general market on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays has plummeted!