Oswestry21

 These remarkable images, taken 20 years apart, illustrate how getting on for a quarter of a century of sound investment and active promotion have transformed the Powis Hall from black and white to colour.

From www.communities.gov.uk 12/10/09

“For the first time the Government is taking on the role of protecting the traditional market in the face of increasing pressures threatening its long term survival”. announced Local Government Minister Rosie Winterton today. (12/10/09)

She said:

“Lots of us enjoy a trip to the local market - almost every community has one. They are part of our heritage and bring communities together. Some traditional markets even date back to medieval times and are the reason why many of our towns exist. For example my market in Doncaster is one of the biggest and finest markets in the North and has been around since the thirteenth century.

“Markets also play a vital economic role in the local community from providing jobs and business start-up opportunities, to often offering cheaper produce and attracting shoppers into the town centre.”

Graham Wilson, Chief Executive of The National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) (Which is hosted at the Guildhall, Oswestry) and spokesperson for The Retail Markets Alliance, added:

“The Retail Markets Alliance is delighted with the Government’s response to the CLG Select Committee’s recommendations and we look forward to working with Rosie Winterton, Jim Fitzpatrick and the inter-departmental working group to raise the profile and quality of markets. The Government’s support will enable us to enhance the contribution that markets already make to a number of important policy areas.”

Worth a read in the light of current events up the Bailey.

This job is currently being advertised on Oswestry Town Council website and in the Tizer. Presumably in market trade magazines also. If you visit the website, a click on the job title will earn you the downloaded details.

While I’m reluctant to turn OS21.com into a job centre, I’m aware that a number of people visit the site who have an interest in the market. Someone may well have the skills required to fit the job description and make the place more businesslike. Have a look and see if it’s you.

It was very gratifying to see the Shropshire Star picking up on the recent Community and Government Committee MPs publication on markets and its recommendation on how to run, manage and promote them. And also to see the Star giving coverage to OS21s event at the Oswestry Food Festival running a price comparision competition between two baskets of staple items, one from a supermarket and one from Powis Hall market ……….. the market basket proved to be about one fifth cheaper, on a quality for quality basis.

The report itself is a long and detailed document  (< link here), commenting on the social, economic and cultural importance of markets, the success of those owned by councils who have placed initiative, investment and energy into them, and recommendations as to how to regenerate and integrate markets into town economies. A concise 10 point excerpt from the report is given below:

What qualities contribute to a successful market delivering social and economic benefits, and are there examples of best practice that have a wider application?

The qualities required are:

1. A clear focus by a local authority on the running and management of a successful market. You have to want to run a market.

2. The integration of the market into the surrounding area where it is located, whether the surrounding retail  or or the host community. You have to manage the place in which the market is located, and study and understand the links it has and needs to maintain. Permeability is a key feature.

3. An understanding within the authority of the potential of the market in helping to deliver cross cutting programmes within the council. You have to understand how a market works.

4. The development of links with organisations locally who might benefit from contact with the market ie schools and hospitals etc and also those outside the area linked to the market supply chain. You have to adopt an entrepreneurial outward looking approach to your market.

5. An ongoing programme of customer research, feedback and improvements to the market. You must always be seeking to find ways of improving your market, both for those who trade in it and those who visit it.

6. Strong trader organisation and proper liaison with the market authority. Markets work best when both are working together to a common set of objectives.

7. Transparency in the running and financing of the market is vital. This encourages ownership and involvement by stakeholders.

8. A clear understanding of where and how the market operates in the supply chain. It is essential to see the market in its wider economic context.

9. Participation in local regional and national networks: It is vital to stay abreast of developments in the markets world and also in the regeneration and education fields amongst others.

10. Celebrate your achievements. Let people know how you are making progress and share that with the local community.

All of which appear to make ex Oswestry Town Councillor, (now leader of Shropshire Council), Keith Barrows insistence, both in public meetings and in private conversation, that the Powis Hall market should be demolished and redeveloped as office accommodation run counter to government thinking, and, in the light of the recent Mydeco win for the Powis Hall, counter to public opinion.

This, coupled with verification from the Guildhall finance department that Oswestry Town Councils advertising budget for the market this year amounts to £20 a week, not enough to buy a miniscule box ad in the Tizer, does go a long way to explaining the sad decline of the Powis Hall market when Government thinking is pointing the way forward and other councils are picking up the initiatives and running with them - Bury and Leicester to name but two, and more locally, £500K investment in Market Drayton market.

It is to be hoped that the passion about the Powis Hall that spurred public opinion to vote sufficiently for it to win the Times/Mydeco competition, and the consequent interest in the Terence Conran/Tara Bernerd makeover will prompt both Keith Barrow and Oswestry Town Council to reconsider the role of the market in a “historic border market town”, and to take note of the increased government and public interest in markets, particularly in these economically difficult times.

The news that Oswestry Town Council have, apparently, agreed to match fund the Times/Mydeco budget is a promising sign.

See also: 

24dash.com/news/Local_Government/2009-07-24-Markets-in-decline-due-to-poor-planning-by-councils