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13
Aug
Campaign to save Knaresborough and Ripon markets gathers pace
The campaign to save Ripon and Knaresborough markets is gathering pace after a petition achieved its target number of signatures in a matter of days.
Two-thirds of traders have said they won’t continue under proposals by North Yorkshire Council to make them put up their own stalls.
Following a meeting of stallholders and market supporters called two weeks ago by independent Knaresborough business owners Steve Teggin and Bill Taylor, which you can read about here, a written and online petition calling for Knaresborough Market to be preserved was started.
Mr Teggin said today the petition has now achieved 500 signatures, which is the amount required to trigger a debate by North Yorkshire Council’s area constituency committee.
However, area constituency committees are only advisory bodies. The final decision is expected to be made in November by the Conservative council’s ruling executive, which is trying to make £48 million savings.
Campaigners are calling on the council, which initially said the change would be implemented next month before setting the November deadline, to hold off until next year to allow more time for talks.
A stall at the market (Image: Charlotte Gale)
Bad faith
Knaresborough Town Council has been in talks with North Yorkshire Council since late last year about taking over the market.
So it was shocked to learn about the proposed change without being consulted and felt the move demonstrated bad faith by the new local authority, which agreed to investigate the transfer of control as part of its ‘double devolution’ agenda that aims to devolve more decision-making power to local communities.
Town councillor David Goode said he understood the need to make savings but he accused North Yorkshire Council of being short sighted by disregarding the economic and tourism benefits of the markets.
He said the council, which operates seven markets in North Yorkshire, had also under-estimated the emotional attachment people in Knaresborough and Ripon have to their centuries-old markets.
He said:
How can you have a market town like Knaresborough without a market? I suspect there is so much pressure coming on management teams to come up with cost savings they are not thinking of the bigger picture.
Every market is unique. There may be a long high street in Northallerton where traders can bring their vans in close to their stalls but that isn’t possible in Knaresborough.
Cllr Goode called for no decision to be made until 2025 “to give us a sensible amount of time to find a solution”, adding:
Knaresborough Town Council hasn’t made a commitment one way or the other yet because we have to come up with something that is viable for everyone at the end of the day.
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