MARKET HALL

Market Hall traders in Derby are to meet with regeneration bosses after objecting to proposals to redesign the layout of Osnabruck Square. More than 50 traders signed a petition against the plans and options for the area, which they said would make it difficult for delivery lorries to get to the hall. Now, Derby City Council and regeneration company Derby Cityscape have agreed to meet with traders to discuss issues. Market hall traders are to meet with regeneration bosses after objecting to proposals to redesign the layout of Osnabruck Square.

More than 50 traders signed a petition against the plans and options for the area, which they said would make it difficult for delivery lorries to get to the hall. Now, Derby City Council and regeneration company Derby Cityscape have agreed to meet with traders to discuss issues. The two options for the area of the Market Hall and Osnabruck Square were first suggested by Derby Cityscape in July, as part of its plans to transform streets and squares in the city. The first option was to create an orangery next to Osnabruck Square to make an indoor area where people would be able to meet and relax.

The orangery, named after war hero Sir Peter Hilton, would also have cafes and perhaps some small stalls. The second option was to build a glass atrium linking the Market Hall to a new office building on the junction of Albert Street and Osnabruck Square. But both options would mean changing the road layout and access to the Market Hall for deliveries. It would mean the closure of the existing road off the Morledge roundabout to a service area at the back of the hall. Instead, a new access road would be created to the eastern edge of Quad which would go behind a new building to a smaller service area. Traders said those changes would make deliveries difficult for large lorries and could affect how the hall is run.

Linda Aston, chairwoman of the Market Traders Committee, said, "Although we embrace improvements to the area, we consider ourselves an integral part of the Cathedral Quarter and any detrimental changes which would affect the smooth running of the hall must be addressed. We advised Cityscape of our concerns and were promised a full meeting of all traders. In the meantime, we put together a list of constructive questions. After a long delay Cityscape didn't answer our questions and the promised meetings had not been forthcoming." In response, the committee started a petition which was signed by 51 traders, the majority of those in the hall.

Derby Cityscape said the plans were in their very early stages and that once more detailed designs were drawn up traders would be consulted again. John Cadwallader, chief executive of Derby Cityscape, said, "We are going to meet with traders and look at the issues. We need to reassure them about the ability to access and service the Market Hall. Obviously, these are outline proposals and we would look to see where they could be adjusted if needed." Derby City Council has not yet considered the proposals formally but has agreed to hold a meeting with traders and Cityscape to discuss the issues. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Sep/08)

Derby City council, which owns the site, wants to increase rents by 16%, but the 70 or so stallholders say this would cause more of them to move out of the site. Traders on the main floor pay £18 a year for each square foot they rent from the council, with stalls ranging from 75 to 200 square feet in size. A stallholder with 75 square feet pays £1,350 to the council, while annual rent for the larger stalls costs up to £3,600.

Under the planned increase, the costs would rise to £1,575 and £4,200 respectively. Michael Roach, one of the stallholders, admitted that shoppers and traders alike were already abandoning the market. He said, "We're not doing very well as it is and this is not going to help. It's another nail in the coffin for the market. There are fewer people coming in and people are giving up their stalls." He blamed competition from the Eagle Market, where stalls benefit from big-name shops like Boots and W H Smith to lure customers in.

Traders in the Eagle Centre currently pay between £25 and £27 per square foot per year. Research carried out by Derby City Council has revealed that Market Hall traders are paying much lower rents than their counterparts in other covered markets around the UK. The councils chief estates manager, Steve Meynell, said that the 16.6% rise would take rents to a fair level.

Derby City Council will be replacing parts of the copper roof of the Market Hall to repair leaks and prevent water damage. The work will take about 10 weeks, depending on the weather, and will be funded by £111,000 from the Council’s Property Services budget, not market traders’ rents. To comply with advice from English Heritage, the new copper will be allowed to oxidise naturally to match the green colour of the existing copper over the next couple of decades.

The last time any of the copper was replaced was probably in 1967, as a marking with this date has been found in the roof. Councillor Philip Hickson, Cabinet Member for Performance Management, Economic Development and Housing, said, “This work has been planned into the Property Services budget for some time and needs to be done now, it will not be funded by any future increase in market traders’ rents. The colour difference between the old and the new copper will, I think, make an eye-catching feature in the city centre for a while, allowing people to see the evolution of this Victorian building."

Traders in the city's Market Hall criticised the city council because they cannot shut out the cold weather. The automatic sliding doors at the Guildhall end of the building failed in December 2004, leaving traders shivering. A quick repair made only days after the first failure worked for just a few days before it too failed. Since then the doors have been wide open, leaving traders exposed to the elements. Mild conditions in January were tolerated by the stallholders, but with the onset of sub-zero temperatures this week, they are having to take extreme measure to combat the cold.

"It's terrible. You can see your breath in front of your face all day long and even the shoppers complain of the cold," said one of the traders, who wears a woolly jumpers and fleece, a hat and fingerless gloves to keep warm. Other workers have taken to standing on cardboard in a bid to provide underfoot insulation. Some have fan-heaters plugged in under their counters, but they provided little comfort against the biting cold. Another trader said, "It's not good enough. We pay to be under cover and expect at least a little protection from the elements in return for our rent."

"These doors packed up in December and have been wide open ever since," he said. "I'm on the move all the time but it's still unbearably cold. It must be worse for the people who can't move away from a till all day. The wind funnels past the Guildhall entrance and whistles into the Market Hall. The entrance is also exposed to the elements and when it rains, or snows, they have to get squeegees out and clear the entrance, which gets very wet and slippery."

Another trader said, "They told us they would be mended in January, but here we are past the middle of February and they still haven't been done." Markets officer Dennis Wardle said that the work should have been done but the council was having difficulties getting the parts needed. He said, "Those doors were put up in 1989 and on a busy week might have 100,000 people passing through them. They've given very reliable service until now, but because of their age we are having difficulty getting the parts to repair them. It has to be done on a Sunday to cause the least disruption to trade, but until we get the parts we can't do it."