New Rochdale Pioneers hand over petition showing support for co-operative market

The New Rochdale Pioneers prepare to hand over their petition of 1,200 signatures

The New Rochdale Pioneers have handed over a petition showing support for a co-operative market during the open forum of Thursday’s Rochdale Township Committee.

‘A petition representing the views of the people of Rochdale and districts who prefer a market run as a co-operative’ is the official title of the signatures gathered by The Pioneers, members of the market. Around 1,200 signatures have been gathered in support.

One of the New Pioneers, Clifford Harker, said: “It’s something we started when we were applying for tender and we kept it going because we want to know the views of the people who are customers of the market.

“It shows people support the market and want it run as a co-operative.”

During the meeting, he raised the stallholders’ concerns that very little information has been communicated to them since they submitted a tender last year, in a bid to operate the market as a co-operative, using the name ‘The New Rochdale Pioneers’. The stallholders submitted their tender in October 2016 with the aim of providing a quality and co-operative market for the people of Rochdale to be proud of.

Mr Harker also voiced their concerns that the Santander building is ‘not fit for the purpose’ as he said 'the foundations haven’t been touched since the flooding’.

He concluded: “We’re bothered something is going on and we’re not being told.”

The traders received a written response that was read aloud, outlining the delay because of finalising contract details and that the work to the Santander building will be taking place in stages, the first of which is complete.

Councillor Farnell confirmed the contract ‘is about to be issued’ and had taken ‘longer than expected’ because of ‘legal issues’. When if the contract’s terms and conditions had been renegotiated, he said he "wasn't aware" if any of the terms and conditions had been changed.

The committee admitted they found it difficult to answer questions the New Pioneers had as they had not been involved, but invited the group to write to the Director of Resources for clarity on the questions they could not answer.

The future operator of the market was announced in February as Essex-based Quarterbridge after winning the tender process, but has still not been formally appointed.

Rochdale Council confirmed at the start of June this was due to working towards a final version of the contract and Quarterbridge will be appointed when the contract has been finalised and agreed.

Initially the market was expected to be operating from its new location on The Butts and at the Santander building by Easter. This was pushed back to summer but currently the Council has no date when the market is expected to be operating.

The Santander building and The Butts were the preferred locations for the market after it moved from the Exchange Shopping Centre in 2015, but work on opening the river on The Butts prevented the move. In the meantime, the market traders have been located on the temporary site of the old ‘Black Box’ for over two years without 'basic facilities'.

The site of ‘the black box’ has been earmarked for some time as the location of the long-awaited new Riverside retail/leisure complex.

At a planning meeting, it was confirmed work on the site could begin as soon as Autumn 2017.

However, if the Santander building is not ready for traders before the development goes ahead, the council has confirmed other options would have to be considered for the current market, including another ‘temporary’ relocation.

Preliminary work has been carried out to the Santander building to repair flood damage. Designs for the building will be finalised when Quarterbridge is finally appointed.