Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development presenting the background papers to a decision which has been Called In in accordance with the Council’s Constitution regarding Kirkgate Market Strategy.

The report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development presented the background papers to a decision which had been Called In in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.  The decision was an Executive Board decision regarding the Kirkgate Market Strategy.

The Chair welcomed the following to the meeting:

• Councillor J Procter – Signatory to the Call In;
• Councillor B Anderson – Signatory to the Call In;
• Councillor R Lewis – Executive Member , Development and the Economy;
• Councillor G Harper – Support Executive Member;
• Christine Addison – Acting Chief Asset Management Officer;
• Sue Burgess – Manager, Leeds Markets;
• Russell Stacher – representing Friends of Kirkgate Market; and
• Sarah Gonzalez – representing Friends of Kirkgate Market.

Councillors J Procter and B Anderson presented their arguments for calling in the decision. These included the following:

·  The lack of stakeholder engagement in the planned changes to the market, specifically that  consultation with market traders had not been sufficient and decisions on traders futures had been taken without their input;

·  The lack of detail presented in the Executive Board report, particularly with regards to rents, compensation  decanting and future numbers of traders;

·  The lack of trader involvement in the evaluation process of the management options;

·  Whether the Executive Board minute adequately reflected Members’ wishes;

·  Lack of detail in the Market Investment Case to underpin assumptions made;

·  The failure of proposals to address the need for closer working between traders and management; and

·  Concern over the effects of the changes to the market traders livelihoods.

Russell Stacher and Sarah Gonzalez outlined the importance of Kirkgate Market to Leeds and highlighted the value that can be achieved when shopping in the market. They questioned the viability of the market in terms of rents currently charged. They also considered that the loan of £12.3 million to fund changes to the market and the targets for its repayment were overly ambitious and suggested that this would require substantial rent increases which could cause hardship to traders.  They questioned the methodology used in the Investment Case, and whether wider social and economic impacts had been properly considered.

Councillor R Lewis, Councillor G Harper and officers were invited to respond to the issues raised by Councillors Procter and Anderson and also to respond to questions raised by Members of the Scrutiny Board.

Specific discussion took place around the nature of the Executive Board report.  It was stressed by Councillor Lewis and officers that the report presented to Executive Board set out a series of principles and that worked up options would need to go back to Executive Board at the appropriate time. This was the main reason for the lack of specific operational detail in a number of the areas raised by Councillors Procter and Anderson.

Other areas of discussion included:

• Consultation methods
• Management option appraisal
• Assignment rights of traders
• Relationships between management and traders
• Lettings policy
• Management experience and expertise
• Underlying causes of market decline
• The importance of the Market in terms of the City’s retail offer and as a source of employment.