Agenda item

The Committee gave consideration to a report which sought to update Members in respect of progress made with investigating options for the future delivery of Gainsborough Market.  The report also recommended a programme of events to be held during 2018 to support the market, the introduction of a new payment method for traders and minor amendments to the Traders terms and Conditions to give clarity on the types of traders permitted to trade.

In presenting the report Officers advised they had been engaging with colleagues in Lincolnshire Procurement and Lincolnshire Legal Services to identify a way forward with procuring a partner organisation to deliver the Market.  In the meantime work to stabilise and improve the market continued.  A new Officer had taken over day to day operations of the market, resulting in a greater presence on site on market days.  The team had been working closely alongside the communications team to increase the presence on social media. Income was slightly up on last year and costs were reducing although the level of income stated in the MTFP was not expected to be achieved.

A Full Communications Plan (using internal council resources) was in development however a short term strategy (to cover the financial year 2018/19) had been developed which included the events listed in the report, and to which the Gainsborough Independent Traders Group had agreed to offer £2.5k towards funding. It is anticipated that this will be developed by any partner secured through the procurement exercise in subsequent years.

The rationale behind the change in payment method and the trader mix was explained.

In the debate that followed members expressed concern that the number of stalls continued to reduce and therefore questioned how income was up.  To limit the trader mix was also considered to be a risk given the limited number of traders already operating.  Information was sought as to the level of debt which currently existed amongst traders. The problems which had arisen as a result of the current invoicing system were shared with the Committee and the change in methodology was therefore welcomed.

The events programme was supported in principle, however Members again urged that there needed to be some measurable outcomes against which success could be assessed.  If these events were about supporting the market and its Traders then there needed to be measures in place to assess this.  Furthermore these benefits needed to last longer than the day itself. Examples of such measures were offered.

Officers responded offering assurance that historical debt was being dealt with.  The traders had been consulted on the proposed changes and planned events and the feedback Officers had received directly from them was that they were supportive.  It was accepted that a longer term strategy was required, however in light of the decision made by the Committee at its December meeting, this would be considered as part of any procurement process.  Officers also accepted measures of success needed to be, and would be developed and that the events needed to bring longer term benefits, weeks after.   However it was emphasised that a short term stabilisation programme was required, and the events and measures proposed in the report were part of this, if the Authority was to be successful in any procurement exercise.

The Committee congratulated the recently appointed Markets Manager for the improvements he had made to date, and continued make, and commented on the 110% effort displayed.

In response to further comments Officers again reiterated that benchmarking would be put in place and the trader list would have the flexibility to accommodate bespoke stalls in support of events.  All of the proposals were part of the short term stabilisation strategy, to ensure the market continued whilst the procurement exercise was being further explored.  It was important the Authority had a product, the market, to sell in the future.   Additional funding was not being requested as the events could be funded from earmarked reserves contained within existing budgets controlled by this Committee.

RESOLVED that:

(a)          Officers be tasked with arranging those events specified at Section 3.1 of the report;

(b)          a “pay on the day” methodology be introduced as soon as it becomes available;

(c)          limits on the number of specific traders, as detailed in Section 5 of the report be introduced; and

(d)          the Traders Term and Conditions be amended to reflect the above decisions