Memorandum submitted by the Director of
Markets, Corporation of London
Thank you very much for your letter of 8 July
seeking more information on consideration being given to the possible
relocation of Billingsgate Market to Leyton (New Spitalfields),
following the initial evidence given to the Select Sub-Committee
by Richard Adams and myself on 30 June.
I should start by reiterating that no formal
policy decisions have been taken by the Corporation about options
for the future of Billingsgate (or indeed Smithfield). The Corporation's
formal position vis-à-vis the Saphir Report remains as
stated in the letter of 18 February to the Secretary of State
at DEFRA.
Nevertheless, in case the current discussions
about the future of Covent Garden fail to bring about a mutually
agreed solution, it is only prudent to consider alternative options.
One of these might be to relocate Billingsgate to Leyton, adjacent
to the New Spitalfields site. The traders at Billingsgate have
made it very clear to us that, if they cannot remain on their
current site, they would wish to move en bloc to Spitalfields,
not to New Covent Garden. I can confirm that there would be legislative
obstacles to be overcome before any relocation could be effected,
since Billingsgate was relocated to its current site some 21 years
ago under the authority of a private Act of Parliament and a further
private Act would be required to move it again and "de-market"
the current site.
On a separate but related point, we took very
close interest in Mr Mills' evidence about his discussions with
various property developers on the disposal of part of the Covent
Garden site and reinvestment of some of the proceeds in the Market
itself. This is similar to a concept already considered by the
Corporation, as part of routine options work, whereby we would
ring-fence the profits from any redevelopment on the market site
and reinvest them in the Market itself. When floated informally
to the Covent Garden Market Tenants Association, this gained a
distinctly cool response. This is an area which might productively
be looked at again, since the Corporation has a good track record
of investing in and maintaining its markets and taking the long-term
view, whereas property developers tend to have a rather different
focus—and are unlikely to wish to tie up capital in, and
operate, a low margin wholesale food market for any great length
of time.
David A H McG Smith
17 July 2003
|
