Last month marked a year since we last transformed a run-down car park into a bustling community space for the people of Levenshulme and beyond. And last month you may have also read an article in The Mill about the “strange death” of our market.
We don’t think there’s anything strange about our situation, it’s just depressingly inevitable considering we’ve had to waste so much time and energy over the last few years dealing with an extremely unsupportive Manchester City Council.
We appreciate The Mill reaching out to both us and the City Council, and whilst their article reflects well the frustrating situation we find ourselves in, the suggestion that this whole sad saga was initiated by us asking for a 4-year Site License Agreement sits, let’s say, uncomfortably with us. This process started when our temporary planning permission was coming up for renewal in 2020/21 and a Council Officer wanted to change our relationship with the Council. It’s worth saying we successfully renewed our planning permission in both 2014 and 2017 without triggering any revaluation. The 4-year Site License Agreement proposal came sometime afterwards independently of the revaluation process started by the Council. It seems handy now that the Council can pin their lack of support on a local Government law which states they need to get the ‘best value’ for their assets.
It’s also worth saying at no point were we told our actions triggered this. If we’d been told at any point that by trying to secure a longer Site License we could jeopardise the market’s future (the very thing we were trying to protect) we wouldn’t have continued down that route. We were trying to make things easier for our volunteer-led organisation, not harder. At no point were we given a choice to revert to the 1-year Site License Agreement that we had previously. Why was that?
We of course understand that the Council is dealing with severe budget cuts and that they need to get ‘best value’ for their assets. But if the Council really wanted to get best value for their site surely having us trade on the terms of our old Site License Agreement would have been better? They’ve just lost out on £10k from us as we’ve been closed for the last year. That’s no small amount of money. Or here’s another idea – how about charging for parking on their site? We are facing a climate emergency after all.
The Council has made it clear to us, and to The Mill, that the profit share offer they presented us was the best they could do and they can not subsidise private businesses. But we had heard differently. So before speaking to The Mill we put in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Manchester City Council.
We asked for the following information…
How many privately operated markets traded on Manchester City Council owned land or property under a Market Rights License in the period 2019-2023?
And in how many of these instances did Manchester City Council waive or subsidise site fees (beyond Market Rights Licenses & planning permissions) placed on the private market operator for operating their market on Manchester City Council land/property?
The response told us…
In 2019 44% were subsidised
In 2020 10% were subsidised
In 2021 47% were subsidised
In 2022 58% were subsidised
In 2023 47% were subsidised
So the numbers tell a different story.
It seems the Council do treat market operations differently, even when they say they don’t. We don’t necessarily disagree with this, as City Councils should have discretion and treat each market on its own merits, especially if they deliver social value like our own. What grinds is that we have been repeatedly told that no market gets special treatment or a ‘generous offer’ like we had.
To be honest we’re struggling to see how we can bounce back like we hoped. Our energy is at an all time low. This year our small group of volunteer directors has fluctuated in capacity due to maternity leave and illness. We have full time jobs & families – and you get to the point where you ask yourself – why are we doing this, where is this heading?
Last month also saw Manchester City Council put out a tender seeking a partner to deliver a regular local market event at Levenshulme Station Car Park. Seeing that tender felt like a punch in the stomach. Does all the hard work over the past 10 years, building up an award-winning community market mean nothing? Apparently so. It seems the Council has no understanding of the pressures the local volunteer and community sector face delivering social value in the short-term and social impact over the long-term in its neighbourhoods.
Unsurprisingly, we won’t be applying for its tender. As we’ve said previously it’s not financially viable for us to run our market with these additional costs on top of everything else we already pay the Council (Market Rights Licence plus various permits & permissions) for the use of their site.
So where does that leave us? Community has always come first for us – and our community needs a market. So as it’s not possible for us to continue under the proposed circumstances we want to wait for the outcome of this tender to see what others have to offer our brilliant community. Because you deserve the best! The love and support you have given us over the last 10 years has been incredible so you deserve a market that has care, kindness and community at the top of its priority list.
We understand if someone else does come in to take the reins, it will not be the same. But we find comfort in knowing that this opportunity will allow traders to flourish, local businesses on the high street to benefit and new friends to be made. And that’s what we set out to do all those years ago.