Rent stallers may lose market pitch

MARKET traders who have fallen behind with the rent could lose their pitch unless they pay up fast.

The council launched a recovery operation in January to claw back long-standing rent arrears from Tommyfield Market stallholders.

More than a third (34 per cent) of the money owed has been collected so far. But five traders have been served with a seven-day notice of tenancy termination.

However, if they pay the minimum monthly payment back within this period the notice will be withdrawn.

The recovery process will continue into June until all arrears are collected.

Councillor Mohib Uddin, Cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Many of our market traders are fully up-to- date with their payments and we thank them for their co-operation.

“We fully understand that recent times have not been the easiest for local traders and — against the backdrop of the credit crunch — the bad winter weather made this situation worse.

“We’re sympathetic to this and are not seeking to recover full arrears in one payment. This action is in no way intended to push traders out of business.

“It is, however, also clearly unfair on those traders who pay their rent on time if we allow other stallholders to continue operating without payment.

“We also have a duty to our citizens to ensure that revenues are collected effectively so that we can re-invest it on improving services.

“We are fully committed to delivering a quality markets service in the borough and have significant investment plans which require funding.

“The launch of a new street market on Albion Street will be the first phase of this improvement programme and we hope to announce a launch date for this within a fortnight.”