Wilmslow Town Council has confirmed that discussions are still ongoing regarding the future of Wilmslow Artisan Market following a request from a Wilmslow resident to return the Artisan Market to a Saturday.
Dr Deborah Slade wrote to the Council following her visit to this month's market saying "I went to the market in Wilmslow on Sunday and was saddened to see the state of it. I go every month even though it is a lot more inconvenient now that it is on a Sunday. There were significantly less stalls and many fewer people there.
"When the market was on a Saturday there was a real buzz about the town. This was not there at all on Sunday. I believe the day was changed due to protests from shop owners saying that it took away their trade. There was also an argument to say that opening on Sunday would give them an extra day's trading. There were no shops open on Sunday.
"The market is slowly dying, diminishing every month and soon it will be gone unless something is done. It has been on a Sunday for 6 months now and it is much less successful in every way. People like me do not wish to shop on a Sunday. I have other things to do such as spending time with my family. The day needs to be changed back to Saturday."
Dr Slade requested that the market be added to the next agenda for the Town Council meeting, adding "It is your responsibility to see that the market remains strong and viable. It is also your responsibility to represent the residents of Wilmslow, not just the shop owners. I believe that the majority of people in Wilmslow would like to see the market return to Saturday."
Cllr Martin Watkins, Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council, referred to the correspondence during the Town Council meeting on Monday, 21st July, although he did not include a specific agenda item on the Artisan Market "as we currently have neither news to report nor the authority to make a binding decision".
Cllr Watkins responded on behalf of his colleagues, saying "Your email highlights the challenges faced by the Artisan Market since it moved to a Sunday in November 2013 and the views expressed by many residents in recent months. The reduction in visitor numbers and recent press coverage has led to a large numbers of residents making contact with the Town Council over the past few weeks regarding the future of the Market.
"The communications received have in the main favoured a return to a Saturday market. However this has by no means been the unanimous view.
"Whilst the Town Council has been involved in facilitating discussions and quantifying the extent of trader opinion following disputes in the town, its involvement was only at the request of market organisers, local established businesses and Cheshire East Council. Wilmslow Town Council has never had any responsibility for the operation of the Artisan Market.
"The Artisan Market is a private market (and a private business) run with the permission of Cheshire East Council. At its heart, the current controversy stems from a fundamental disagreement from one type of business with another. It is the responsibility of those businesses to resolve the matter themselves.
"In response to the bad feeling that was being generated between town centre business owners and the market, the Town Council commissioned a survey of town businesses which showed that those businesses which held a view over the timing of the market were, in the majority, favouring Sunday. The information gathered was passed to Cheshire East Council and the market organisers as a piece of professional, independent, quantifiable evidence to aid the decision making process. Note please that this was a survey of the businesses involved and not a survey of public opinion which was, in any event, not difficult to gauge."
Cllr Watkins added "You highlight in your email the responsibility of the Town Council to represent the citizens of Wilmslow not just the shop holders. However the occupancy of town centre shops and the health of the permanent retailer economy has implications for us all as indicated by the plethora of comments made online each time a local business closes its doors. To ignore the concerns of businesses when they indicate that the market is hurting them would be irresponsible and I offer no apology that the Town Council helped to quantify this opinion. Moreover, since the inception of the Artisan Market, Wilmslow Town Council has voiced its support on many occasions which demonstrates an even-handed approach.
"Over recent weeks representatives of the Town Council have continued to participate in meetings with Cheshire East Council and interested parties in order to try and encourage the business community towards a workable and long term compromise which meets the aspirations of all of our communities, residents included. By definition, compromise means that not all will be happy by the outcome. A certain amount of progress has been made and further meetings are planned."
Wilmslow Artisan Market was launched three years ago to bring diversity and ambiance to Wilmslow, to offer something a bit different to what can be found on other high streets and support local businesses. However a large number of retailers called for the market to be switched to a Sunday as it was having a detrimental effect on sales on their busiest day of the week.
As a result, Wilmslow Town Council commissioned an independent research company to assess the impact of the Wilmslow Artisan Market and, having consider the results, it was decided that future Artisan Markets in Wilmslow will be held on a Sunday. The first Sunday Artisan Market was held in November 2013.
Denise Valente, organiser of the Wilmslow Artisan Markets said "There have been a series of regular meetings with Wilmslow Town Council and Cheshire East Council over the last few months - all trying to come up with a solution to 'save' the market and provide a solution that will benefit the majority, both shop keepers and visitors. Because the event impacts on such a huge cross section of people it is not an easy compromise to find and that is why it has taken so long. Neither I, nor the WTC or CEC want to make any changes that will be detrimental and so lots of components need to be considered.
"When the market was moved to a Sunday in November of last year I had hoped that it would provide a platform for the retail environment to capitalise on the increased footfall that it would bring to an otherwise quiet trading day in Wilmslow. I hoped that retail would open and this in itself would provide our visitors and the shops with a thriving 7th trading day. With shops open as well as our event, shopping patterns may have adapted to Sunday and all would have been good.
"The reality has been that very few additional shops have opened on the Sunday and those that did have found that the additional costs associated with this have not been supported by additional takings as the number of visitors has been far lower than what we experienced on a Saturday, and so many have taken the decision not to open anymore.
"This leaves us in a difficult position as the event is now the only 'main' draw and on its own it has not been able to change sufficient peoples habits. Sunday in Wilmslow is historically a time for families, sporting clubs, relaxing, Sunday roast, church etc, most shopping has been done. We are finding many regular visitors cannot make the market on a Sunday due to poor bus services or other commitments. Our visitors on a Saturday used to combine the shops/restaurants and the market as a day out, browsing the market and picking up their essentials from the retailers. Now if they need something from a high street store on a Sunday they have to make the journey elsewhere at the expense of missing the market."
Denise added "The concept for this event was to enhance what our town had to offer, providing something that brought people back into the town who previously shopped elsewhere. It was to add vibrancy and buzz and bring back the times when people bumped into friends on the street and could meet the people who lovingly produced or sourced the goods they sold.
"I feel very strongly that the Artisan Market is a huge asset to Wilmslow and hope that it continues to thrive moving forward."
What's your views on Wilmslow Artisan Market? Let us know via the comment box below whether you would like to see the Wilmslow Artisan Market continue and, if so, whether you would like it to be held on a Saturday or Sunday in future.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I bumped into a friend at the Knutsford market and they said they had come to Knutsford for a walk round Tatton Park, seen the market was on and decided to have a look round.
Wilmslow is not a Sunday destination for a large number of people like Knutsford is.
Its time shopkeepers realised the massive marketing opportunity the market brings to the whole town, it doesn't take much to get our from behind your counters and interact with the people passing by on market days, who are not regular visitors to the town and maybe get some new customers.
If you are now sure how to do this - ask the Chamber of Commerce or the many business groups in the town - they will help you.
The council are there to make decsions, so people should make their voices heard to their local counceller and then they make a decsion. If people dont like that decsion, thats what elections are for.
I cannot believe that the local businesses are suggesting it is a bad for business to hold the market on a Saturday. I mean, I haven't seen the survey of the businesses that was undertaken but I assume that they must have had to demonstrate, in financial terms, the impact that the Saturday market was having? Can it really have been that detrimental on only one day a month?
Unfortunately, as is their way, I have a strong feeling that both Council's will embark on a process of more strategies, surveys, meetings, sub-committee's and steering committee's, without making a decision, until it's too late.
I hope I'm proved wrong and they move it back to a Saturday.
This FACT is also recognised by many Wilmslow town traders/shops, who duly stay shut on Sundays.
FACT – Wilmslow lacks a critical mass & concentration of local population like that of Macclesfield being in easy striking distance to sustain the relative success of the Treacle market.
FACT footfall for the Sunday market keeps falling which ensures a final & sad scenario that a Sunday artisan market in Wilmslow will finally fail.
FACT this failure can only be avoided by reviving the proven success in popularity of a Saturday held artisan market – end of!!
http://bit.ly/1msssYX
A few key points:
1. Businesses as far as Summerfields have been included in the figures;
2. Over 222 businesses were apparently included in the survey. On this basis, I can't understand why Steve Kennedy wasn't consulted;
3.70% of businesses in the vicinity of the market claimed that a Saturday market had had either a positive impact or no impact on them at all;
4. The number of businesses who wanted the market to be moved to a Sunday were actually in the minority (45%);
5. The rationale for the move was to "remove the negativity" associated with the Saturday market irrespective of the fact that the figures show that the majority of businesses felt the positive impact of a Saturday market, or stated that the effect was neutral.
What is clearly missing from the Council's decision making process is the fact that no-one bothered to undertake any kind of survey regarding the impact of the move on the Market itself or upon the residents that use it.
I try to visit on a Sunday but more often than not it has to be a flying visit on the way somewhere. I loved the Saturday market when I could browse the shops and market together. We often took friends with us and they were so impressed with our town- not any more. I VOTE FOR SATURDAY.
Frankly they dont seem to have the first clue what their role is supposed to be in the development of our town. They splurg £2 grand on a pointless survey, make a really bad call in moving the date of the market and now twiddle their thumbs while the biggest crowd pulling attraction we have ever had now flounders.
Can anyone please tell me why we need WTC?
Many years ago Grove Street was rightly or wrongly pedestrianised to remove the traffic and aid the retailers not to provide a large site for micro businesses which choose for various reasons not to fund bricks and mortar. Greedy landlords and even greedier Governments and councils have milked retail ceaselessly for many years and now with the incarnation of internet shopping vast areas have succumbed to desolation. For confirmation visit the A6 Hazel Grove, Altrincham, Oldham, Preston etc.
The market is only viable with the symbiotic relationship with it and the retail outlets but the retailers see it as one way traffic (pun intended). The market would fail if moved away from the shops and the shops (not including coffee shops, charity shops etc.) don't want it on Saturdays. Simples.
I note the company who did this seem to know what they are doing but it does look to me that their brief must have been biased . So sweeping statements are made such as "Given the previous charts, it is not surprising that the majority of outlets would prefer the Wilmslow Artisan market to be held on a Sunday" which is hardly as balanced representation of the data.
In addition if you start working out what these percentages actually mean the case seems even less clear cut:
18 businesses in the immediate vicinity claimed a negative impact (and there is no attempt to explain what that is, - on a Saturdays' takings, over a six month trading period, do you mean any negative impact at all or only a significant one and so on);
23 in the immediate vicinity claimed a positive impact and 18 no effect - ie 41 businesses in total;
In the local area 32 claimed a negative impact and 83 either a positive impact or no impact (38 positive);
Further away the negative impact is reported by 12 and no impact or positive by 23.
So in total we have 62 v 147 who report a reason to overturn the status quo. That is a significant minority but hardly an overwhelming case for change.
Why was public opinion not taken into account when such a crucial decision was made? The survey should really have acknowledged at the outset that its purpose was to determine the views of 1 stakeholder group in this debate: town centre retailers. In making a decision, WTC/CEC should then have taken into account not just the formal survey findings but also the views of the 2 other key stakeholder groups concerned: residents and market traders, which could be more easily determined. Cllr Watkins acknowledges that "public opinion was not difficult to gauge" - why was it ignored then?
There is no doubt in my mind what the residents want but we need to be looking at a bigger picture too i.e. what is in the best interests of Wilmslow as a town and a community, not just now but going forwards well into the future. Analysed in these terms, the market debate is not simply one stemming from a disagreement between the permanent retail community and market traders and is not something which is simply the responsibility of those businesses to resolve. It is the responsibility of CEC and WTC to make decisions on what is best for the town taking into the account the views of the community as a whole - they seem to be avoiding making a difficult decision here.
Investing in new signage and flower displays, creating a town centre that is more attractive to visitors is great - but all rather pointless if we've got no visitors to impress! The Saturday market was so important because it put Wilmslow on the map. It didn't just provide micro business owners with the opportunity to retail their artisan produce to local residents; it was the town's opportunity to show off - to give visitors something to talk about, tweet about etc. Wilmslow is not ordinarily a buzzing place - but if we put on a fabulous display once a month then visitors remember the town as something more than it is - and ultimately over time as those visitors return on non market days it has the chance to transition into a place that is somewhere to talk about 365 days of the year. When the market was on a Saturday, that was the day we arranged for visitors to come and stay because we felt proud of the town. I have a brother and a brother in law, both in their early 30's and living in London with large disposable incomes. I liked to think that on their way back down to London after seeing the Saturday Wilmslow Market they might ponder what their life could be like outside the Capital and conclude that Wilmlsow might be 'the' place to live.