Bacup Market traders angered by council removal decision

The new market hall and public square, linking with Union Street, named Temple Court was given an £8.3 million budget with proposals including a new food hall, bike hub and café.

However, to make way for the development traders, some of whom have been using the space for more than 40 years, have been moved with "no offer of new premises and limited compensation".

Plans for Bacup Market (Image: Rossendale Borough Council)

Louisa Price, who runs Bacup Card Creations, said: “Bacup is now going to be plastered with this monstrosity that is not in keeping with the town.

“No one in Bacup wants this market, and there are no suitable places that are in Rossendale for traders.

“I am only a very small trader, I make £60-£80 a week, I can’t afford £75 plus in rent a week.

"Despite my best attempt to trade from home until it is open and to get shelf space in another commercial space in the borough, I have been dismissed.”

Originally, traders were offered £10,000, then they were told they could relocate to temporary cabins in St James Square, but that was knocked back.

In a recent press release, the Rossendale Council informed residents traders had been compensated with free rent since January, on the condition they pack up when told to do so.

For Louisa, this figure is £25 a week, totalling £1,300 for the year, with traders offered no new premises until the completion of the build in two years’ time – where they have to apply for a stall again.

A compensation package of £2,500 was offered to traders, but Louisa claims this is inaccessible, and she has been refused twice.

Louisa added: “A press release went out a month ago about the situation at Bacup market, and shoehorned into that was confidential information that market traders had been offered rent free since January for closing.

“In my situation that is £25, so it is not a very big compensation package. There was also a compensation package of £2,500, which no one on the market qualifies for.

"I have tried twice to obtain this compensation package and twice I have been refused.”

Susan Holt, owner of Sue’s Café, says the council had led traders “down the garden path” and despite promising a new site they have been left with partial reimbursements of costs, being allowed under a strict criterion.

She said: “The reason most market traders operate as they do is to allow for part-time or flexible working which is compatible with family lives.

"For some traders like me with caring commitments this is impossible.

“I believe the offer of partial funding is totally incompatible with business and our family lives.

"Our only option is to wait for the new build or relocate to a market a significant distance away with a significant upheaval of equipment, which at my age is impossible.

“We never accepted anything, there was never another offer on the table other than rent free and market closure. If there had been another option to be relocated and pay the rent, we would have taken that option.

“They led us down the garden path. Everything I did to support the 2040 vision, and the levelling up build I did in good faith, I didn’t think it would come back to bite me.

“It is just a slap in the face. I have worked here for 12 years and got nothing for the goodwill of the business.”

She also highlighted how the closure couldn’t have come at a worse time, with closure set for December 28, with tenants needing to be out by January 5.

Sue added: “The timing of closing the market is absolutely horrendous, we close on December 28, and we need to be out by January 5.

"How are you meant to do that? You won’t be able to get a man with a van to help you out.”

Ray Cross, owner of R & M Cross Butchers, is a fan of the investment into the town but felt it could have been spent in a better way, with a specific focus on the lack of parking at the new facility.

He said: “The problem is, the plans are brilliant, but it doesn’t stand up to be in a retail development. There is no car parking, there is no free car park.

"It is a blueprint that someone has decided is a good idea in 2045 when we are all in hovercrafts and can beam down from one place or another.

“I have been on the market for 30 years and I don’t think it will work but I am only a mere mortal.

“It is nice to have investment in Bacup, but I think the plans and what they have planned, they have one vision of what it wants to be.”

Rossendale Borough Council has been contacted for comment.