Thursday 29 April 2010

Friday Market blues...

Off topic for the General Election

– but I have to write something about the Morpeth Chamber of Trade’s intransigence over the proposed Morpeth Friday Market, as reported in this week’s Morpeth Herald:

Chamber of Trade representatives have been to every meeting of the Morpeth Markets Partnership since last September and have been fully informed about the trials for the Friday Market. They were fully consulted about the second trial and agreed to help distribute the council’s survey to their members themselves. And they have known from the beginning that the Council was looking for organisational responses which were not to be restricted to the survey form.

And representatives of the Chamber of Trade were present at the Markets Partnership meeting where the survey results and feedback were discussed in detail. And those reps agreed to report back to their members and produce an organisational response as quickly as possible.

Yet – three months after the second trial began, they still have not submitted a formal organisational response. Now as far as I am concerned, no reply and the coverage in the Morpeth Herald constitutes an adequate response – but I believe that the county council officer actually responsible for making the decision has been told by his political masters not to make a decision until a response from the Chamber of Trade has been received.

So the Friday Market is stymied….

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bob Robertson commented: "Second paragraph contains the answer! MCT's idea of "as quickly as possible", is not in line with your expectations or mine. They cant even organise the painting of a wall, why should you expect them to take a prompt and positive view on something that increases footfall in the town center! :0) Ask them via the paper but not until the 6th is out of the way."