'Every effort needs to be made to keep Crowle market going'
A town council could be called upon to make a financial contribution to help save its monthly markets.
Traditional markets were revived in Crowle following the completion of the town's £3 million Market Place revamp.
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DEBATE: Mel Bailey
Although slow to get off the ground when the Market Place was officially opened in July 2010, some of its themed markets have proved to be a success.
But the majority have fallen by the wayside and a drop in footfall for the town has been another blow.
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The markets committee, which is in charge of organising and promoting the markets, has called for something to be done to stop the stalls from being run into the ground.
Crowle and Ealand town councillor Ron Stewart said: "It's a good venture and should be continued, perhaps we need a larger group of volunteers to run it.
"If we are serious, Crowle and Ealand Town Council has got to get its charter group to do some forward thinking and perhaps to meet with a professional market organiser to get some advice for future market days.
"It shouldn't be hard if you find the right traders to come along and if needs be, if it costs a lot of money, the town council could make the contribution to make that worthwhile.
"We should discuss this monetary contribution to make it more established at next month's meeting."
Councillor Norman Arrand said many residents would like to see a weekly market established.
He said: "Local residents have all said if it had vegetables, meat and fish they would shop there.
"As it stands at the moment, it's more hit and miss – they don't know if stalls are going to be there from one month to the next but you would if it was once a week."
But Councillor John Ramsden disagreed.
He said: "The idea of a weekly market is just a non-starter.
"The vegetable stalls that Councillor Arrand suggests will have no produce after the next two to three months.
"We need to get market traders on that site that sell things like clothing and shoes – goods that are not available in Crowle."
Councillor and Crowle resident Mel Bailey is a member of the markets committee.
He said it was difficult to attract professional stallholders.
He said: "Professionals are very reluctant to come to Crowle because of the footfall figures – pathetic is an understatement.
"Even stallholder comments are 'I'm not coming again'."
A meeting of stallholders, businesses and members of the public was held in light of the concerns.
Andrew Singleton, secretary of the markets committee, said: "We have got four to five new members who came along and wanted to help us develop the markets and keep them going for a bit longer.
"We've got a few new ideas on trying to get a better range of stalls and produce there to keep it going for a bit longer and then review it."
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