Rent discount on market stalls sparks fresh row on spending

The reductions were approved by Sheffield Council’s leading Labour group, after stallholders said they were suffering because a long-awaited new markets complex was severely delayed.

Announcing the discount in July, the authority’s finance spokesman Bryan Lodge said rents would be cut by 30 per cent, and said that would cost the cash-strapped council around £300,000 until 2013.

But the opposition Lib Dem group yesterday seized on figures in a council report, which show that the actual cost of the scheme will be around £632,000, more than twice the original estimate.

Sheffield’s crumbling Castle Market was supposed to close last September as part of a blueprint which promised traders a new. modern home across the city centre in The Moor shopping area.

But the project has been repeatedly delayed as a result of the economic downturn, leaving stallholders operating in uncertain conditions and shoppers unsure of the market’s future in the city.

In 2008, when the Liberal Democrats ran the council, they agreed a 40 per cent rent reduction with market traders in a move which leaders said would compensate them for the wait for the new complex.

But in the first few months of 2011, the Lib Dem cabinet announced it would be forced to withdraw the discount to help the authority meet heavy Government-imposed cuts.

After ousting the former administration, one of the first tasks ofLabour was a review of the market, which led to a revised completion date of November 2013.

The 30 per cent discount was then unveiled by Coun Lodge, who said the move would ensure there were still some market traders left to move into the new building when it finally opened.

Yesterday Coun Lodge was attacked by his Lib Dem opposite number Coun Simon Clement-Jones, who said: “Lib Dems would have loved to offer the traders in Castle Market a discount. However, the money simply wasn’t available and we had to prioritise services for the vulnerable above what is, at the end of the day, a subsidy for private businesses.

“I’m sure many businesses around Sheffield will be interested to find out why they can’t benefit from a discount on their rates.

“Only recently Labour councillors increased care charges for vulnerable Sheffielders, complaining that no money can be found.

“But this just goes to show money can be found if Labour councillors care about the issue enough. Now they must come clean and tell us which services will be cut in order to pay for this new policy.”

Coun Lodge said the Labour group had committed to the short-term spending to safeguard the market’s long-term future.

He added: “I believe that a city the size of Sheffield should have a good quality market for local people.

“Market traders warned the Lib Dems that the funding settlement allocated in their budget would force many traders to go out of business, threatening the future of the market and the 600 people who work there.

“In April 14,760 local people signed a petition objecting to the settlement, highlighting the level of public support for the market and the desire of Sheffield people to retain the market.

“I strongly believe that we’ve made the right decision in allowing the traders a discount as this should ensure that the market continues to operate, keeping local people in employment and providing a much valued service for local people.”

Coun Lodge said reinstating 100 per cent rents for Castle Market traders in the current economic climate was not sustainable because footfall had declined in the shabby markets building by around a million shoppers a year since 2006.