A trader at Nottingham's Victoria Market says continued uncertainty about its future is "horrific" after the issue was raised in Parliament. Nottinghamshire Live first reported on uncertainty about the historic venue in January 2022, when it was revealed that Nottingham City Council was in "ongoing discussions" with its asset managers.
A consultation was then held between April and June last year and since then, Nottingham City Council has been in talks about compensation offers with the 30 remaining traders in the event of the market's closure. Despite traders saying they were originally given a February 24 date by which the council was due to surrender the lease, this deadline has now passed without any further clarity being given.
The situation has now been raised in Parliament by Gedling's Conservative MP Tom Randall, who asked whether time could be made in the House of Commons to debate the issue. He said: "In February last year, my constituent Rajesh Dhingra contacted me about the effect that the uncertainty is having on his business and on other traders.
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"More than a year later, they are no further forward, with the suspicion that the market is being deliberately run down with a view to selling it off. In the words of one trader: 'Nottingham City Council didn't do a good job of running the market. They're making an even worse job of closing it down'.
"I have not had any response to my recent emails to the council. Does my right honourable friend agree that the council should not be able to run down the market as a way of trying to avoid paying proper compensation to stallholders?"
Penny Mordaunt, Conservative Leader of the House of Commons, responded by saying: "That is a shocking situation. We very much value markets and want to support them, which is why we made a permanent fixture of the permitted development right that enables markets held by or on behalf of local authorities to be operational for an unlimited number of days.
"It is shocking that there is a lack of clarity about what is happening for stallholders, who want to be able to plan what they will do next if the market is to be shut down. If that is the case, they should be paid a fair rate." One of those affected by the ongoing uncertainty is John Easom, who owns the Gold Bank Jewellers.
He said: "Trade is still good for us and we actually want to move in to a bigger premises and have offered the council a significant amount of money to do that, but we can't. The ban on new traders coming into the market either needs to be lifted, or they need to close it down.
"It's been 15 months now and the way it's being handled is just horrific." Nottingham City Council confirmed that the situation remains unchanged.
A spokesperson said: "As part of a review of our operation of the Victoria Indoor Market, we put forward a proposal to end the lease. While our consultation showed strong support for the council’s ongoing running of and investment in Victoria Market, the reality is this is estimated to cost £39million over the next 50 years of the lease.
"As no viable alternative has been identified, officers are expected to recommend we end our lease and operation of the market, helping us to meet our duty to deliver value for money for local taxpayers. We have been undertaking confidential discussions with all traders about recommended offers of compensation in the event that the market closes.
"This engagement has now largely been completed and the council is able to consider the full financial impact of the proposed exit from the market. We will now need to undertake further work to consider whether this represents best value for taxpayers before a final decision is taken on the future of the market."
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