Market Hall Refurbishment

[Less]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

At the moment it is a half empty place that looks half finished.

Feeling a little bit down today Margaret?

Shouldn't it have a more positive note and read:-

HALF FULL.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

I personally would drop the rents and fill every stall in there rather than trying to squeeze even more out of the successful ones.

Cannot disagree with you there! With the current economic climate and spending reductions to come the council should be trying to reduce rent for traders.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Less

Feeling a little bit down today Margaret?

Shouldn't it have a more positive note and read:-

HALF FULL.

No Less, it is definitely half empty......and lacking in atmosphere.

I'm just telling it like it is.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by andrewb

Cannot disagree with you there! With the current economic climate and spending reductions to come the council should be trying to reduce rent for traders.

Thank you, it really is the only way forward now.

Tesco is going to hammer the market in terms of new custom. I also foresee all sorts of traffic problems when it finally opens unless some drastic restructuring to the road system is implemented.

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

There are a couple of points that I have not yet seen raised on this issue of 6 day opening:

1) Historically, most towns grew around their markets which were granted by Royal Charter; these charters - often going back to the 12th or 13th centuries - specified on which days markets were to be held in the town (usually, two or three times a week). My questions therefore are a) Does Accy hold an historic Charter? b) When was it granted? and c) what conditions are there pertaining to the holding of the market? It may well be that by forcing traders to open 6 days a week, the council is in violation of it's charter and action as such may be illegal under ancient statute.

This is one for Retlaw, I think so come in Walter & lets have your thoughts.

b) While i am certainly no lover of the EU, anyone in business is fully aware of the mass of employment legislation originating in Brussels. Employment Protection covers not just employees, but the self-employed as well. This legislation covers the amount of time anyone can legally work without a break and as such it seems to me that by forcing many of these self-employed market stall holders to work 6 days through they will be in violation of EU law.

I'm not a lawyer or an HR guy but maybe someone who knows more about this can comment.

The legal team at HBC is headed by a very thorough woman who advises all councillors on every decision taken, it seems incredibly unlikely that anything would have slipped past her.

European working time directives allow a 48 hour week (with certain exclusions up to 60 hours, I think) and 6 x 8 hour days would fall within that remit. Stallholders will learn how to hold their bladders for 8 hours and forego refreshment breaks, in fact market traders will probably thrive on it, especially in winter months when the cold weather buggers up your plumbing.

Those mithering sods who insist on such luxuries will simply have to hire more staff and support the Market Hall in the same way that Cllr Haworth is doing.

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

European working time directives allow a 48 hour week (with certain exclusions up to 60 hours, I think) and 6 x 8 hour days would fall within that remit. Stallholders will learn how to hold their bladders for 8 hours and forego refreshment breaks, in fact market traders will probably thrive on it, especially in winter months when the cold weather buggers up your plumbing.

It wasn't the 48 hour week I was primarily thinking of, but the 5.6 week/28 day minimum statutory holiday. How will this fit in to 6 day a week opening for 3 months or maybe permanently?

[gynn]

The Council's solicitor is very professional and you can be confident that she will have researched the legislation and not let the Council do anything in breach of the law or EU directives.

[BERNADETTE]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

Thank you, it really is the only way forward now.

Tesco is going to hammer the market in terms of new custom. I also foresee all sorts of traffic problems when it finally opens unless some drastic restructuring to the road system is implemented.

The traffic round that area is already horrendous so god help us when the Tesco traffic starts in earnest

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

It wasn't the 48 hour week I was primarily thinking of, but the 5.6 week/28 day minimum statutory holiday. How will this fit in to 6 day a week opening for 3 months or maybe permanently?

I'm sure Cllr Haworth has taken this into consideration......

The legal team will advise them on any action that they have decided to take and it is only for three months at the moment and so is perfectly legal.

Permanently may prove more problematic and it is inevitable that they will find this out when they try to ram it through in February. I cannot for one moment see Cllrs Britcliffe and Haworth backing down over this as it will be the ultimate admission of failure. Any sane person would listen to the screams of protest from the borough and admit that a rethink is perhaps necessary but not these two.

Mind you, even Britcliffe is feeling the heat as he is seemingly absolving responsibility for the Market Hall on the grounds of a personal interest, something which hasn't really interfered with his own publicity campaign up until now.

[lindsay ormerod]

Been in the market hall today in search of the veggie/ health food stall that used to be in there, it's obviously done one, along with all the punters. Handy if you want to learn to crochet though as that was todays pointless craft lesson being taught to some very uninterested bods.
Now can one of you crochet me up some mung beans?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod

Handy if you want to learn to crochet though as that was todays pointless craft lesson being taught to some very uninterested bods.
Now can one of you crochet me up some mung beans?

She's apparently the silly knit in residence, who's apparently there for three months.

Funded by the silly nits we have in charge.

Art in the community, or a nibble fingered biddy, taking up space vacated by former market traders.

Take your crochet needle, and pick which one you think is a more suitable description.

[Tealeaf]

I'm surprised this exercise has got past Health & Safety; just think of all those sharp knitting needles flying around the place. What happens if someone gets injured? Who picks up the bill? The ratepayers? The stallholders?

[dam]

Been in there today although i dont usually go in even though ive lived in accrington for 20 years. I thought the buiding is beautiful and what stalls are there ( which isnt many, the rent/lease must be a fortune )have some great products.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

Thank you, it really is the only way forward now.

Tesco is going to hammer the market in terms of new custom. I also foresee all sorts of traffic problems when it finally opens unless some drastic restructuring to the road system is implemented.

Why don't all the market traders pick say next Monday, and don't turn up to open their stalls what could britcliffes mafia do about it, and if its covered by some clause in their contracts, just hang a sign up "Closed due to Sickness"

Retlaw.

[walkinman221]

I think only reason they want this six day week is because of certain people who run the cafe upstairs want it and daddy says he can make it so.