MORE MARKET FARCE THAN MARKET FORCE

Considering that Cllr Richard Church once called me an "Albanian Stalinist" in the Council chamber I was somewhat taken aback at the tirade of personal abuse he espouged at me during last Mondays full council meeting!

This once mild mannered Liberal Lovie has tried to reform himself in to the Lib Dem administration's chief attack dog on Northampton Borough Council as he rallies and rails against any spoken dissent from the opposition benches (How dare the opposition oppose!) or from the public benches.

"You're so negative" "Why do hate your town so much " and  "Scaremongering" he shouts at me whilst telling us all that the Lib Dem's are always always right and are never to be found wanting. I now know how John Dickie felt when Slugger went for him in the imfamous Italian Coffee house!

But his tyrannical outbursts lacked any effect for two main reasons:

1) Despite his best efforts to look like tough and sound like Mr Angry he still comes across as the rather softly spoken geography teacher from our schooldays who every pupil ridiculed and threw paper airplanes at

and

2) Despite his best attempts to convince us that the Liberal Democrat Administration on Northampton Borough Council are a beacon of excellence and pro active engagement within the UK civic arena we just don't and won't buy it!

So my views and concerns on our less than impressive Market Square Water Fountain "still to be switched on last I heard" were treated with denial and ignorance by the Lib Dem benches who simply clapped like performing seals every time Slugger opened his guttural pipes.

Of course I still don't have a copy of  the Councils risk assessment on the fountain which I asked for? or any details as to how the water is cleaned/filtered or chemically treated? We just have Cllr Churchs view that "alls well" and that the Emperors new clothes are very fine indeed

Well it seems not, you see it's not just the opposition on the Council who have had enough of the Lib Dem's continual meddling. The Market Traders themselves are equally unimpressed by the administrations efforts, and now on top of the fountain fiasco we have yet another big blow to the markets reputation and survival as the Lib Dem's attempt to move 34 stall holders in the main Aisle away from their usual stalls to make way for a "Leather Sculpture" as part of the "Blinx" Arts festival. Take the following quotes from their website http://www.northamptonmarket.biz/  as an example

"When traders were asked to discuss the issue, several thought that the intent to remove up to 34 stalls from the heart of the market for a fortnight was a deliberate provocation by some leading members of the Liberal Democrat council. “They are trying to kick the market to death!” Said one angry trader. Others thought the move represented the usual arrogant and thoughtless attitude of the Liberal Democrats, who have continually angered the market traders with many decisions taken which adversely affected traders’ livelihoods"

Traders are now to be shoved down to the bottom of the market into - you guessed it! - the ‘Events Area’! Doesn’t make sense? No, that’s what the market committee thought when they were told about it. They asked why this ‘event’ could not go into the ‘Events Area’, and were told rather vaguely that the artists preferred to show their sculpture in the middle of a working area. So for this arrogant vanity a great many traders have to be moved for two weeks, losing a great deal of regular trade.

The market committee were asked to consult with affected traders to get their views, and report back to markets management with a - presumably sanitised - account of how traders felt about the matter. one said

Traders’ livelihoods are being destroyed for two weeks so a great deal of public money can be wasted on some so-called art event. It’s a bloody disgrace!”

Fitzy our well loved Fruit and Veg seller on the market on his blog says:

I see there has been yet another hold up recently in installing the fountain; getting on for five months now they have been at it: they'll get it right soon. Good job these people are not running the Fire Service.

and

Then there was a series of plans that we protested against to take down almost all the traditional market stalls on June 13th, and then at first replace three, then two, then finally one row of traditional stalls with gazebo popups, which they still haven't got awnings for, after over a year of waiting for non-existent prototypes.

and

Now the latest Lib-Dem twaddle is about an arty farty pseudy arts festival that not only wants to install itself on the market square, but plans to take down up to 34 stalls in the very middle of the market itself, for a fortnight, and dump a moronic 'leather sculpture' in their place, bang in the middle of the actual market. Words fail me!
Have the Lib-Dems taken leave of their senses at last, or is this a calculated plot on the part of Richard Church and co. to take another kick at the market traders? One of the surest and quickest ways to finish a market is to keep moving it about, so no regular customers can find the traders they used to shop from.

All this trouble and loss of trade just so some arrogant arty farty so-called 'arts festival' can drop a piece of pseudo-art 'leather sculpture' into the middle of the market. What is the Events Area for, Cllrs Hoare, Church, and Crake, if not for events? The 'Events Area' which you turfed the market traders out of last year, is supposed to be for events, so use it for this purpose, and let the market traders continue to try to make a living. Things are quite hard enough for market traders as it is, without deliberately kicking them in the teeth. Roll on the local elections next May, when these Lib-Dem turkeys go to their political slaughter.

As I write this blog further news reaches me suggesting that the new  sockets put in the ground for the new lightweight gazebos have all been put in the wrong places! (too close together) preventing any vehicular access to stalls for the Market traders to offload their wares.

We also now know that the annual cost of putting on events on the Market Square has risen to over £175,000 a year! We pay German and Italian Market traders to come an trade on the market at the same time we take rent from local traders and ignore their views, all this money for Market events and yet we couldn't afford to keep the Balloon Festival going! We can't afford to keep public Toilets open and we can't even afford to emply a rat catcher!

But don't moan about any of the above, you will just be accused of not loving your town and being too negative. The changes to the Market have all been a wonderful success story which has secured the future for market traders and improved the area for all. Just ask Richard Church