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Leeds: Local teams to take on market responsibility
Leeds City Council will hand over responsibility for its smaller markets to local teams, in a bid to reverse their ailing fortunes.
A week after announcing that its city centre management team was to take over the running of struggling Kirkgate Market when its manager leaves, the authority has unveiled new proposals for Pudsey, Otley and
Yeadon Markets.
Councillor Andrew Carter, joint council leader and executive board member for city development, said he hoped the restructuring would regenerate the communities served by the markets.
He said: "In view of the fact that the markets' manager in Leeds is retiring, we are using the opportunity to look at the way the markets run by Leeds City Council are actually geographically managed.
"I believe it is very important that the new management arrangements in the city focus on Kirkgate Market."
He said the three smaller markets, presently run and managed by the city, would be far better managed at a local level.
He said: "In the case of Pudsey and Yeadon, this would mean they were run via the Outer West and Outer North West Area Committees. In the case of Otley, either by Otley Town Council, if they were willing, or again by the Outer North West Area Committee."
He added: "These three markets are very important to the local communities they serve, and to the council. Itwould be beneficial to the futures of the markets and their viability for them to be run on a much more local basis."
He said the plans were expected to take effect "sooner, rather than later".
Traders in Kirkgate had been calling for a change of approach for years, and issued an unofficial vote of no confidence in its management team this summer.
Pudsey market traders have complained it used to be bustling but had suffered with competition from shopping centres such as Owlcotes and White Rose Centre.
Stallholders at Otley Market last year welcomed council plans to pump 300,000 into its Market Place.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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