Clare Tyson said it was ‘vital’ that the Tuesday pannier market continued after Vicks’ Auctioneers ceases trading in livestock at Hatherleigh Market at the end of February 2018 and the market site is sold to a housing developer.
‘The Tuesday market is a social hub, which not only benefits the town but also people living in the villages and countryside for miles around,’ said Cllr Tyson. ‘Hatherleigh comes alive on Tuesdays and the market is vital to the other businesses in the town too.
‘There’s a huge social aspect to it. It is about wellbeing, not just for people living in Hatherleigh but also for people in the villages and hamlets around it. I’ve had people from Meeth and Iddesleigh saying that they rely on the Tuesday market.’
Cllr Tyson called the meeting after owner Greg Vick confirmed that his livestock market would cease trading on February 24, and that Lancashire-based Kingswood Homes was buying the site.
Town councillors and market stallholders met with a representative from Kingswood Homes on Monday last week to discuss the future of the site.
The developer has confirmed it will apply early in the New Year to West Devon Borough Council for planning permission to build 120 homes, a neighbourhood supermarket, light industrial units and a car park on the site. An earlier outline planning permission for 105 homes and the other facilities, including retail space, was granted by West Devon Borough Council in 2014, has lapsed.
While a new market area is being included in the new plans, traders are worried that it will lack indoor space. Some are also worried that they will lose trade during the construction period.
Charles Dumpleton runs a pet food stall within the market, and also organises the Ruby Country Markets, the next one scheduled for December 2. He said the market was a ‘unique’ attraction, which ‘sold everything from a bar of soap to a side of beef’.
‘If this market goes, it is going to be such a loss, not just to the town but to the whole community too,’ he said. ‘The Tuesday market brings in regular customers from Penzance, St Austell, Torbay and Ilfracombe, from all over Devon and Cornwall, and some of the sellers come those sorts of distances too.
‘It is so popular. It is unique and highly successful. It is an old-fashioned pannier market, and I personally think that the market should be listed as a community asset.’
Hatherleigh mayor Clare Tyson, said the town council would be working with Kingswood Homes to ensure that the market stayed open throughout the construction period.
‘Kingswood Homes wants to work with the community of Hatherleigh,’ she said. ‘They will provide a space for the market to operate, and they want to work with us. How big that market will be, we still don’t know.’
She said the town council was setting up a working party, which would look at applying for funding for a replacement market the pannier market traders wanted to see.
‘We have got to look at the possibilities for funding because it is important for the traders to know that there is indoor space,’ she said. ‘Now we know the focus and Kingswood’s basic stance, we can take this forward. We need to work out the nitty gritty, who is going to manage the market and who is going to run it, and who is going to take legal responsibility for it.’
A spokesperson for Kingswood Homes said: ‘We are looking forward to continuing working closely with the town council and the local community to provide facilities for an exciting, revitalised and sustainable market operation in Hatherleigh.
‘Our plans will include space for the weekly pannier market to continue during the development process and we hope that a working party, including market traders and the town council, will help create a new vision for a market that will offer more amenities for local people and attract even more visitors to the town in the future.
‘The town council has been helpful in engaging with both us and the local community to ensure we can deliver something special for the town and we are currently in talks with the council about potential designs for the new market area.
‘A new planning submission, expected to also include some new shop facilities, is anticipated early next year. This is a fantastic opportunity for local people to help create a facility the whole town can be proud of and help to bring more jobs and prosperity to the town.’