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BREAKING news and daily roundups More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice Discussions between the council and disgruntled traders, who were shifted into a Northampton car park during town centre renovations, are ongoing to plan their move back into the town centre later this year. Stall owners have been set up in a temporary site in Commercial Street car park for 14 months now as the Market Square undergoes its £10m regeneration project. Once complete, it will have 18 high-quality and bespoke fixed stalls along with refreshed paving, water features and seating. The project works started in February 2023 with an estimated completion date of summer 2024. Leader of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC), Jonathan Nunn, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service : "The things that people used to say to me about the market is, not only did they feel that it looked dreary because of the old paving and atmosphere, but actually they didn’t think that the offer was quite that good. READ MORE: Concerns over self-harm and drug use at Wellingborough
prison need 'immediate action', inspector says "We want to get back as many of our old
Friends from market traders, of course, but we also want to widen that offer as well to a variety of things that perhaps people weren’t able to get. "I think we’re lucky that we live in Northampton- we can wake up in the morning and decide to go to many places- Milton Keynes, Rushden Lakes, and all the rest of it. There’s plenty of shops but what we need to get is a unique opportunity. "It’s all about reconnecting people having lost that connection with the town." There will be 18 permanent stalls in Market Square once the project is complete. (Image: West Northamptonshire Council) West Northamptonshire Council has said it is currently in the process of meeting with traders to discuss options for moving back to their original home. The Local Democracy Reporting Service visited the temporary market on Friday morning (April 5) to ask traders what they had heard from the council about moving into the new stalls at Market Square. Many traders had mixed responses, with some stands saying that market managers had initially spoken to them and other owners saying that they have heard nothing about moving back later this year. Local trader and owner of Mick's fruit and veg said: "Since we’ve been down here we’ve heard little or no communication from them- it’s almost like they’ve been avoiding us. "It’s just so disheartening that we come down here and put a lot of effort in and get no reward. "Because the purchase price of everything has gone so dear at the moment and because we’re down here people have to make a special effort to get here- if we can’t give them a good deal better than we can up there then they think what’s the point in coming down. "They’ve closed the town off for two years nearly and alienated all the people from Northampton." Terry O'Neill. owner of a
Football memorabilia stand. (Image: Nadia Lincoln LDRS) Asked about the last year in Commercial Street car park, Terry O'Neill, the owner of a football memorabilia stand said: "It’s dreadful down here- there’s no footfall at all. People have given up years and years of their businesses because it just doesn’t work. "Where we were, in the middle of the town, near the biggest shopping centre with the biggest car park and a bus station not far away- where wasn’t the connection before? "Now, you couldn’t get any further away from the town centre and where most people tend to be. It’s died- it’s dead. A lot of good people have packed up. "I’m 100 per cent for [revamping the town centre], but you don’t kill most of your traders off to try and get that." Traders have been open with their struggles down at the temporary site, which is a seven-minute walk from Market Square and the hustle of the town centre. To help traders cope, WNC offered free rent and has spent thousands putting on entertainment events to try and attract people down to the temporary site. Terry added: "Where they’ve put the stalls is wrong. [Rent] can be free but if nobody pays me any money I’m not making any money anyway. "When they announced we were moving down here I said ‘that’s the end of my business’. There was no thought to the people of the market and how they would survive and no thought for the customers." The council has said there will be offers in place at the beginning to recruit traders back to Market Square and alleviate some price pressures for rent. A plan for the future of the project is anticipated to be presented to the WNC cabinet next week, on April 16. Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow CambridgeLive
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