Rochdale Market: £2.25million ‘to provide a permanent outdoor market and indoor market’

A computer generated image of how the new market could look

The future of Rochdale Market was discussed at the Budget Fixing Council on Wednesday (1 March).

The market is set to receive £2.25 million in 2017/18 ‘to provide a permanent outdoor market and indoor market’ at the Santander building and The Butts by summer.

It is understood this will not affect timescales for the Rochdale Riverside Project, due to begin around the same time.

Councillor Jim Gartside asked: “Can we be assured that this new market will be opened by the stallholders in true Rochdale co-operative fashion?”

In response, Councillor Allen Brett replied: “No.”

Councillor Peter Winkler asked: “Why will the market holders not own their stalls? And if not, who will?”

In response, Councillor Richard Farnell said: “The market will be owned by Rochdale Council, we will appoint a professional expert market operator to manage the market on behalf of the Council, and not before time.

“One of the reasons Rochdale Market has been in decline for many, many years is because the previous operator, the owners of The Exchange, ran it into the ground. We aren’t experts at running markets and we need an expert operator to do that, if the market is to survive.

“For it to survive, it will have to change. It will have to become more specialist; it will have to offer goods at the right prices and quality that people want to buy. It will have to become more of a food based market, that’s where all the markets are moving in the future and we had a full proper evaluation of the tenders.

“The local operators, I congratulate them, they got together to put in a tender and I have to say, it wasn’t good enough.

“There’s a whole range of difference between running a market stall and being able to run and improve and expand a market, and that’s what we need in Rochdale.

“Simply to just call yourself a co-operative, doesn’t mean you are a co-operative. There are huge hurdles that you have to go through; you have to accept and adopt co-operative values and principles. So the idea that it’s a co-operative is a bit of a misnomer.

“I do hope that when we have the new operator in place, the new market will go from strength to strength and will be supported by the people of Rochdale.”

Councillor Winkler responded: “I wonder if our pioneers in this home of co-operation are turning in their graves at accounts that the people of Rochdale are not even capable of running their market.

“For me, in the home of co-operation, we should have given them that opportunity.”