CARL CHINN – MARKETS CHAMPION

Bernice and I went to meet Carl Chinn today to talk about his reaction to the planned closure of the Wholesale Markets and the impacts that he forsees it may have on the Bull Ring Markets.

 

A really successful and motivating chat culminating in the decision to hold a Public Meeting to look at the importance of The Bull Ring Market to Birmingham and the people and also to talk about ways in which we can help shape it’s future and retain the markets for the people of Birmingham.

We are in the process in organising this event, which we hope will take place towards the end of September, please follow this blog or check on Facebook or Twitter for updates.

Thanks to Carl for his continued support of The Bull Ring Markets, it’s traders and the people who use it.

Thursday @ The Bull Ring Markets

A beautifully sunny day at the Bull Ring Market today, plenty of people milling around, interested in finding out more about out campaign. I had just set up the stall when a couple with 2 small children approached me to find out what was going on. As we chatted about the proposed closure of the Wholesale Market, it transpired that they didn’t live in Birmingham but had come down for a day trip specifically to come to the Markets from London. The woman told me that she was originally from Gloucester and had always come to the market as a child with her family and even though as an adult she had relocated to London she still came up a few times a year to come to the market. Her memory of the markets is that of a vibrant shopping area where many goods could be purchased at a great price. They felt it would be a great loss for the region to lose it’s historic markets to redevelopment.

Also on the information stall was Nigel Harris, a Bull Ring Open Market trader who had given up a couple of hours of his morning to talk with the public and get more signatures for our petition. Here’s what Nigel said;

Thanks again to all volunteer, past, present and potential! C’mon you know you want to!

 

INFORMATION STALL

Even on a quiet market day, like today, we still collected over 500 signatures from people shopping down there. People are angry that Birmingham City Council feels that it has moral right to sell land that they feel has been entrusted to them for the good of the people of Birmingham. From a recent trip to the archives of Birmingham City Library what I could gather, is that after Peter De Birmingham was given the Market Charter, eventually someone from the Cadbury family and some other bloke bought it rather cheaply and then later on ‘entrusted’ it to The Birmingham Corporation to ensure that the people of Birmingham always had a market on which to rely on for access to a wide range of goods. So, surely the moral obligation is not to sell it but actually to care for it and help maintain it’s upkeep and long life?

So, we need to continue spreading the word, writing to our local councillors and MP’s and asking people to sign the petition.

We are still looking for people to help out on the Information Stall, we are trying to be open Tues to Sat from 10am – 4pm, so if anyone has a few hours to spare please, please get in touch!! Either via this blog or email bullringopenmarket@hotmail.com

Thanks

 

KATIE AND THE BIG CITY PLAN

Great day on the stall – lots of public interest and comments, including letters to councillors and MP’s. Walked into town – up past the Bullring (as in shopping mall) and looked at the progress of this new development called Spiceal Street, pioneered by Hammerson’s. Their novel idea seeks to provide a portal between the 1700’s and the 21st century, to transport Brummies from their humdrum existence into the past…to a Bull Ring that is full of the hustle and bustle of times gone past, generous hospitality and cheerful banter as traders share their wares, an abundance of produce from fruit and vegetables, flowers, meat and the such…

Oh hang on a minute, we’ve already got that! Thanks Hammersons for re-packaging and re-designing something that is already here and a place that thousands of Birmingham people and from farther afield already appreciate, we don’t need to clean it up and sanitize it, we have a thriving community of traders who work and come from third or fourth generation market families.  This is an example of one such woman,Katie;

KATIE

 

My question is where does Katie fit into Spiceal Street and The Big City Plan?

We have living history in our city centre yet there seems to be a desire to erase what is and create a 2d version that is a mere empty reflection of the authentic article.

BULL RING MARKETS CAMPAIGN FULLSTEAM AHEAD!

Unable to do much from behind my stall in the Bull Ring Open Market, as local labour politician Shabana Mahmood showed her support for the campaign, I decided to ask a few of my customers what they thought of Birmingham City Council’s decision to close down and demolish the Wholesale Markets.
Here’s a selection;

KITTY

PAT

Meanwhile on the Campaign Stall in the market,
Selina Stewart a long time markets customer and supporter of the local traders, cracked on with encouraging the local and not so local community to write to their local MP’s and councillors to explain why they felt that this was a bad decision. The response has been overwhelming, we need to show Birmingham City Council that we aren’t happy!

We still need volunteers but we would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has been supporting us in so many different ways.

Here’s Kim, a trader, talking about the success of the campign so far.

KIM

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

We have set up an information stall in the Bull Ring Open Market to tell people what’s going on and also we are writing letters to local Councillors and MP’s with people so that they can voice their unhappiness in the BCC decision to close down and demolish the Wholesale Markets.
Whilst helping on Saturday I heard many stories of why people love The Bull Ring Market and why they felt it was an important feature of Birmingham life. I also heard stories of why the Wholesale Market plays a vital role for some young people in Birmingham.
An elderly woman told me that she and her husband sold clothes in the rag market over 50 years ago, and without that she feels that their life would have been a whole lot harder. She was at least 80 and still came down to the market to do her weekly shop and chat with traders. A young man, of around 25 years, approached me and asked me what was going on, he works in the Wholesale Market and is worried for his future and the future of his workmates. He feels that the jobs aren’t out there for unskilled, unqualified men of his age and the markets were a lifeline for him and his family to be ensured an income.
As the campaign gathers force we really need volunteers, people who can help for a couple of hours on the information stall, and also to distribute petitions around their local area and workplace.
If you feel that you can dedicate a couple of hours to either distributing in your area or helping on the stall please write to me Carol – bullringopenmarket@hotmail.com or respond to this blog. Let me know when you are available and what you could do to help.
We are very grateful for your help. Thanks in advance.

Birmingham City Council chief says ‘we are committed to our markets’

Reading an article this morning about how BCC are committed to ‘our markets’ is sweet msuic to my ears, if only it were true. It is obvious that even if a suitable relocation were to be found for wholesalers to trade from (albeit separate from other areas such as meat and fish – which raises another discussion about the interconnectivity of trade) how could it be built in less than 18 months when the Council themselves failed to even really begin that process in over 6 years of planning and so-called consultation? And let’s just say that the Wholesale traders do manage to achieve this – where will the infrastructure come from for the Bull Ring Market traders in transportation links, storage etc, questions we have been asking at almost every meeting we have had with various BCC Markets Department managers at least for the last 6 years since we saw the hefty business case in which only a paragraph was written on the impact on the Bull Ring Markets.
Anyway you can read more of BCC’s response at
http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2011/08/17/birmingham-city-council-chief-says-we-are-committed-to-our-markets-97319-29247845/#.Tk2Q9dv5NMw.facebook#ixzz1VT2lflXy

IS THIS REALLY CONSULTATION?

Market Traders Invited to Have Their Say on Wholesale Change

By

SimonH

– July 28, 2011Posted in: News

Consultation on the future of Birmingham’s Wholesale Market will formally begin this morning as officers from Birmingham City Council meet market traders to outline current plans and discuss options for the future.

The meeting follows confirmation last week that plans to relocate to a new purpose built facility in Witton were no longer viable due to wider economic issues.

Traders, businesses they serve and the public will now all get the opportunity to have their say on the future the market, ahead of recommendations being drawn up for agreement by the City Council’s Cabinet later in the year.

The existing building in which the market is housed is more than 35 years old, in desperate need of costly refurbishment and no longer fit-for-purpose.

In a recent survey of traders the overwhelming majority of respondents (80%) were in favour of a move.*

Cllr Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said:

“Since the original plans to relocate the market to Witton were agreed, there have been a number of significant developments, both locally and in the national economy, which have resulted in the original plans no longer being viable.

“These have included the closure of Advantage West Midlands and loss of associated funding opportunities, the Government increasing the cost to local authorities of Prudential Borrowing and wider pressures placed upon public and private sector budgets by the prevailing economic climate.

“We will now look to work with traders and the private sector within the city to explore a range of more cost effective options for relocation.”

Traders at Birmingham’s Open, Rag and Indoor Markets will also be consulted on the wholesale market plans, although there are no plans or need to relocate any of these operations.

After reading in the paper at the weekend that Councils (amongst other public bodies) will be encouraged to sell of public assests in order to pay for other things, it comes as no surprise that the land that the Wholesale is currently built on will be sold off to the highest bidder at the first opportunity.

So, it really makes me wonder, what is this consultation process that they are going about? Is it really consultation or just an exercise in appearing to be interested in what 100’s of traders really think about the proposed termination of their livelihoods? I am intrigued as to what this process is going to be like, and to what extent our comments will be taken on board by Birmingham City Council.

When they say that the Wholesale Market is ‘no longer fit for purpose‘ it begs the question – and who is at fault for that? The fact that there has been very little or no investment into repairs and maintenance of the building for at least 7 years (as long as I have been a trader) by Birmingham City Council may have something to do with it’s state of ill health as a working building and also the quote that 80% of traders wanted to move – yes maybe when they were under the impression that the Council would provide a new location, we may find very few actually want the markets to close and hence lose their jobs!

Maybe Birmingham City Council need to look at this decision again – and actually balance the money that they will gain from the sale of this land with the money that they will lose from all small retailers in the area not just The Bull Ring Markets as they start to see a decline in small business and an increase in unemployment from all sectors of Birmingham.

 

WHOLESALE MARKET TO BE CLOSED

Birmingham City Council announced last week that the Birmingham Wholesale Markets are to be closed and demolished by 2013. This in itself was not such a big shock to Birmingham’s Bull Ring Market traders, the shock was the fact that after over 6 years of negotiation with Birmingham City Council  they had reneged on their responsibility to provide an alternative location.

The impact that this threatens to have on small retailers, restaurants, cafes and the Bull Ring Market is immense and could see the end of The Bull Ring Markets. This would be a fatal blow for the Birmingham public who use the markets for many reasons including access to fresh, inexpensive fruit and vegetables, cheese, milk, bread and other food products that are often unavailable in other places such as Jamaican and Asian foods.

Historically, Birmingham markets started Birmingham and it would be a huge loss for Birmingham as a city to lose it’s cultural heritage and part of what makes Birmingham such a culturally diverse place.

We will be running a campaign to try and show Birmingham City Council how important the markets are for the people of Birmingham. So please watch this space and support us in any way that you can!

WHO WE ARE

This blog is about The Bull Ring Markets and a support group called Friends of The Bull Ring Markets. Despite being a historical landmark for the people of Birmingham, the Market has been suffering from neglect for the last twenty years. In this blog you will find information about why this is the case and what can you do support traders and help improve the Market. Friends of The Bull Ring Markets is a group for everyone who loves the Market.