PUBLIC MEETING : Time to get involved.
There is a lot to read here. I am publishing as much as I can to let you all know recent developments. My hope is that with this knowledge you will find a way to become even more involved .What follows is a copy of the document that I am circulating ,by hand , to everyone in the Market and anyone else with an interest. Please take a moment to study it. Thank-you . S
. Latest Information
B&HCC Chair of Licensing,Jackie O‘Quinn with others, will be at a Public Meeting at Hove Town Hall Council Chamber, beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Thurs.12th March.
As there are a number of other Licensing issues, across the city to be discussed, it is not currently expected that Upper Gardner Street will be debated until later in the day. However just in case they decide to push it through a little sooner I intend to be there from the beginning.
The agenda for this meeting should be publicly available on the 5th March.
As this is a PUBLIC MEETING on the 12th , it is your/our opportunity to voice your/our points about Upper Gardner Street Market.
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I had what I thought was a useful meeting with Jim Whitelegg , the Regulatory Services Manager at B&HCC on Tues, 25 Feb.
I shared with him the concerns that have been expressed regarding the changes to the rules in this Street Market.
I reminded him about and showed him copies of, the written petitions that I had initiated, for the Stall holders and the Public visiting the market and my on-line petition. We have about 600 responses in total and I had printed some of the supportive comments made on line. It‘s not too late to add to these at . Change.org Leave the rules for this historic market unchanged.
He saw these comments and is aware of peoples opinions and concerns for this market.
A summary of what we agreed at our meeting was as follows.
Bear in mind, this was purely a conversation that I had initiated to clarify our concerns.
The issues that he and I discussed are yet to be debated and decided upon at the Council meeting that I have already mentioned. Nothing was finalised at this talk.
Jim Whitelegg agreed that he could see no objection to making use of the space on empty pitches.
That‘s what this petition has been all about.
I explained that on Market days ,other than for Traders , loading or unloading,the street it closed to traffic. Pedestrians do not need to walk on the pavement and generally walk in the road in front of, rather than behind the stalls.
He accepted that Traders are likely to sit on seats or to stand on the pavement behind their stalls. This is not unreasonable.
We agreed that doorways must always be left clear and that stock should not be stacked up against residents front walls. Common courtesy really. This may be dependent upon the individual residents telling traders pitching in front of their homes, that they don‘t object but it stands as a general rule.
The issue of rubbish being left in the street was raised. I pointed out that our contract does state that our license fee used to cover that. The legend is that the council stopped collecting rubbish some years ago when, rather than having the rent raised to cover the cost, traders agreed to remove their own rubbish .
I made the point that as there are so many ‚takeaway food and drink stores nearby we frequently have their customers detritis , cans, disposable cups and food trays either dropped in the street or left on our stalls .
No mention was made of vans delivering during trading hours to the restaurant in the middle of the market.
Or deliveries to the back entrance to stores or shops in Kensington Gardens.
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There was some reference to the historic issues about residents /local shopkeepers parking in the street and obstructing traders pitches and the resulting traders responses. This though, is an historic issue and not one that I could comment on. Other than to confirm that there are often cars that are not owned by Traders, parked in this street where the market has been for 100 years. No one who moved in here could be unaware.
We agreed that parking is an issue of major concern in the locality. Particularly since the loss of the polytechnic car park . I did, rather in hope than expectation , offer the suggestion that Traders , who already have overheads with pitch fees, insurance, obtaining stock and loosing lots of trading days to the weather, might be offered parking concessions in the nearby car parks. ‘Some fell on stoney ground‘
Other points shared by Jim Whitelegg were that ‚‘Field Officers‘ were the ones who made the original reports about UGS Traders spreading. It seems that their role is to monitor and feed back to the Licensing Office about noise, planning , weekend trade and other issues. Specifically mobile vans (Burgers, Ice-cream etc) in Zone B, and Static Pitches in Zone A.
Zone A includes this Street Market, the whole street, not one ‘sole traders‘ pitch
As Jim Whitelegg stated Upper Gardner Street Market has mainly been self managing.
I believe that it could continue to be so .
I have not been pushing for any major changes . With a little bit of consideration and common sense it seems clear that this market can continue to run for another100 years.
You have the opportunity now to make sure this happens, please take it.
Thanks again Steve, Pitch 78