Memorandum by Bletchley & Fenny Stratford
Town Council (MARKETS 17)
This response is from Bletchley and Fenny Stratford
Town Council. Summary of our details in bullet format (as per
your specification):
— Town Council in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
— The Town Council took over management
of the market from Milton Keynes Council (the principal authority)
in April 2006.
— We have seen a steady decline in market
traders over the past few years with a significant decrease in
these past six to eight months.
— We manage a small, uncovered market.
— The pitches are not supplied to traders
and there are no permanent fixtures.
— Electricity and waste disposal is supplied
to traders and this is included in the rental charges.
— Bletchley is a town within Milton Keynes
and is regarded within the local development plan as a second
retail centre.
1. The Town Council took over the management
of Bletchley market from Milton Keynes Council (MKC) in April
2005. At that time, MKC were proposing to discontinue supporting
the market and this would have resulted in no market provision
in the local area. The Town Council strongly felt that a market
should continue and took over the total management of market.
2. Details of the market income from 2005-06 are
shown in an attached excel spreadsheet. You can see from this
that the income has decreased quite considerably and with a significant
decrease in this current year.
3. There are many potential reasons for
the decline and these can be briefly summarised as follows: decline
in retail trade generally, increase in super/hyper markets selling
many lines of products, out of town shopping centres, increase
in retail stores selling cheap/pound items. This is not an exhaustive
list.
4. Obstacles preventing the successful business
of markets: could be no financial support from government in set
up costs, significant costs initially if needing to buy stall,
cover, products etc, lack of cash flow.
5. Specialist markets—Bletchley is
a traditional high street which has had a market for over 400 years.
In the area of the Town Council, a market has existed since "time
immemorial" (a charter was granted in 1609 for Fenny
Stratford) and that market (produce and cattle) moved to the top
end of Bletchley Road (now called Queensway) in 1924. Since this
time, the market has existed on various sites until, at popular
request, it was located in its current site being a street market
along Queensway in the late 1990s.
The Town Council remains committed to maintaining
this element of the community's heritage whilst it is economic
ably viable to do so.
In recent years the Town Council has considered
operating specialist markets such as a farmer's markets. This
was not implemented as we could not find any 3rd party willing
to run the operation on our behalf as they felt that Bletchley
was not an affluent area to sustain a farmers market.
6. Neither local or central government (other
than the Town Council) has any input into the management of the
market and there is no financial assistance from them. There is
no support (in our experience) and no willingness to work together
to promote and enhance the market.
7. Local planning and licensing can hinder
the development of the market as planning permissions are given
to more retail units changing from class 1 (traditional retail
units) to other classes. This is creating a non retail high street,
full of financial and licensable units. This is detrimental to
the high street as a whole and also to the market.
COMPARISON OF
MARKET INCOME
|
| Income 2005-06
| Income 2006-07
| Income 2007-2008
| Income 2008-09
|
| Week No | Weekly total
| Cummulative
Total
| | Cumulative
Total
| Weekly Total | Cumulative
Total
| Weekly Total | Cumulative
Total
|
|
| | | £374.00
| £374.00 | £750.00
| £750.00 | £365.00
| £365.00 |
| 1 | £832.50
| 833.5 | £678.50
| £1,052.50 | £706.00
| £1,456.00 | £429.00
| £794.00 |
| 2 | £956.00
| £1,788.50 | £783.00
| £1,835.50 | £821.50
| £2,277.50 | £398.40
| £1,192.40 |
| 3 | £834.50
| £2,623.00 | £775.00
| £2,610.50 | £860.00
| £3,137.50 | £378.90
| £1,571.30 |
| 4 | £929.00
| £3,552.00 | £846.50
| £3,457.00 | £870.50
| £4,008.00 | £411.90
| £1,983.20 |
| 5 | £946.50
| £4,498.50 | £771.50
| £4,228.50 | £722.50
| £4,730.50 | £431.40
| £2,414.60 |
| 6 | £851.00
| £5,349.50 | £863.00
| £5,091.50 | £801.50
| £5,532.00 | £313.90
| £2,728.50 |
| 7 | £1,025.00
| £6,374.50 | £691.50
| £5,783.00 | £766.50
| £6,298.50 | £342.45
| £3,070.95 |
| 6 | £849.50
| £7,224.00 | £675.50
| £6,458.50 | £628.00
| £6,926.50 | £421.60
| £3,492.55 |
| 9 | £1,065.00
| £8,289.00 | £715.50
| £7,174.00 | £874.50
| £7,801.00 | £322.00
| £3,814.55 |
| 10 | £1,073.00
| £9,362.00 | £734.50
| £7,908.50 | £710.50
| £8,511.50 | £413.90
| £4,228.45 |
| 11 | £1,064.50
| £10,426.50 | £898.50
| £8,807.00 | £608.50
| £9,120.00 | £411.00
| £4,639.45 |
| 12 | £1,079.00
| £11,505.50 | £986.50
| £9,793.50 | £697.00
| £9,817.00 | £459.00
| £5,098.45 |
| 13 | £914.00
| £12,419.50 | £929.50
| £10,723.00 | £767.50
| £10,584.50 | £343.90
| £5,442.35 |
| 14 | £1,066.50
| £13,486.00 | £1,157.50
| £11,880.50 | £716.50
| £11,301.00 | £315.00
| £5,757.35 |
| 15 | £1,175.00
| £14,661.00 | £1,208.50
| £13,089.00 | £521.50
| £11,822.50 | £309.00
| £6,066.35 |
| 16 | £1,062.00
| £15,723.00 | £1,037.50
| £14,126.50 | £782.50
| £12,605.00 | £303.50
| £6,369.85 |
| 17 | £1,123.00
| £16,846.00 | £990.50
| £15,117.00 | £765.50
| £13,370.50 | £303.50
| £6,673.35 |
| 18 | £1,074.50
| £17,920.50 | £937.50
| £16,054.50 | £841.00
| £14,211.50 | £248.00
| £6,921.35 |
| 19 | £1,456.50
| £19,377.00 | £837.50
| £16,892.00 | £703.00
| £14,914.50 | £322.00
| £7,243.35 |
| 20 | £1,081.00
| £20,458.00 | £846.00
| £17,738.00 | £850.00
| £15,764.50 | £303.50
| £7,546.85 |
| 21 | £1,044.50
| £21,502.50 | £1,059.00
| £18,797.00 | £822.00
| £16,586.50 | £296.50
| £7,843.35 |
| 22 | £1,062.50
| £22,565.00 | £908.00
| £19,705.00 | £769.50
| £17,356.00 | £236.50
| £8,079.85 |
| 23 | £1,011.00
| £23,576.00 | £1,010.50
| £20,715.50 | £845.50
| £18,201.50 | £303.50
| £8,383.35 |
| 24 | £964.50
| £24,540.50 | £860.00
| £21,575.50 | £738.50
| £18,940.00 | £288.50
| £8,671.85 |
| 25 | £1,004.00
| £25,544.50 | £720.50
| £22,296.00 | £619.50
| £19,559.50 | £270.50
| £8,942.35 |
| 26 | £755.50
| £26,300.00 | £716.50
| £23,012.50 | £765.50
| £20,325.00 | £361.00
| £9,303.35 |
| 27 | £1,000.50
| £27,300.50 | £580.50
| £23,593.00 | £710.00
| £21,035.00 | £255.50
| £9,558.85 |
| 28 | £1,061.50
| £28,362.00 | £806.00
| £24,399.00 | £859.00
| £21,894.00 | £320.00
| £9,878.85 |
| 29 | £897.00
| £29,259.00 | £679.50
| £25,078.50 | £935.50
| £22,829.50 | £316.00
| £10,194.85 |
| 30 | £736.50
| £29,995.50 | £814.00
| £25,892.50 | £923.50
| £23,753.00 | £327.00
| £10,521.85 |
| 31 | £840.00
| £30,835.50 | £784.50
| £26,677.00 | £856.50
| £24,609.50 | £330.50
| £10,852.35 |
| 32 | £1,034.00
| £31,869.50 | £790.00
| £27,467.00 | £753.50
| £25,363.00 | £353.00
| £11,205.35 |
| 33 | £695.50
| £32,565.00 | £606.50
| £28,073.50 | £794.00
| £26,157.00 | £292.50
| £11,497.85 |
| 34 | £840.50
| £33,405.50 | £820.50
| £28,894.00 | £908.00
| £27,065.00 | £389.30
| £11,887.15 |
| 35 | £788.00
| £34,193.50 | £856.50
| £29,750.50 | £562.50
| £27,627.50 | £381.25
| £12,268.40 |
| 36 | £960.50
| £35,154.00 | £963.00
| £30,713.50 | £989.50
| £28,617.00 | £296.50
| £12,564.90 |
| 37 | £968.00
| £36,122.00 | £1,089.50
| £31,803.00 | £1,073.00
| £29,690.00 | £426.05
| £12,990.95 |
| 38 | £885.00
| £37,007.00 | £1,151.00
| £32,954.00 | £336.50
| £30,026.50 | £0.00
| £12,990.95 |
| 39 | £1,036.00
| £38,043.00 | £358.00
| £33,312.00 | £411.00
| £30,437.50 | £108.50
| £13,099.45 |
| 40 | £308.50
| £38,351.50 | £544.00
| £33,856.00 | £350.00
| £30,787.50 | £74.50
| £13,173.95 |
| 41 | £681.00
| £39,032.50 | £536.50
| £34,392.50 | £267.00
| £31,054.50 |
| |
| 42 | £619.00
| £39,651.50 | £552.00
| £34,944.50 | £595.50
| £31,650.00 |
| |
| 43 | £674.00
| £40,325.50 | £681.50
| £35,626.00 | £368.50
| £32,018.50 |
| |
| 44 | £606.00
| £40,931.50 | £733.00
| £36,359.00 | £588.50
| £32,607.00 |
| |
| 45 | £798.00
| £41,729.50 | £288.50
| £36,647.50 | £535.50
| £33,142.50 |
| |
| 46 | £589.50
| £42,319.00 | £683.00
| £37,330.50 | £571.00
| £33,713.50 |
| |
| 47 | £728.00
| £43,047.00 | £588.50
| £37,919.00 | £469.00
| £34,182.50 |
| |
| 48 | £510.00
| £43,557.00 | £757.00
| £38,676.00 | £507.00
| £34,689.50 |
| |
| 49 | £438.50
| £43,995.50 | £777.50
| £39,453.50 | £407.50
| £35,097.00 |
| |
| 50 | £781.00
| £44,776.50 | £762.50
| £40,216.00 | £238.00
| £35,335.00 |
| |
| 51 | £496.50
| £45,273.00 | £682.50
| £40,898.50 | £281.50
| £35,616.50 |
| |
| 52 | £158.00
| £45,431.00 | £741.00
| £41,639.50 | £0.00
| £35,616.50 |
| |
| Total: | £45,431.00
| Total
| £41,639.50
| Total
| £35,616.50
| Total
| £13,173.95
| |
|
|
