LEIGH market hall traders, whose businesses have been hit by building work on the £2m Spinning Gate mall extension, have suffered a new blow.

They have learned that their rents are to rise by two and a half per cent from November.

Now the angry stallholders fear the increase could be the final nail in the coffin and Leigh shoppers could lose their market.

They are also alarmed the closure of two access doors and the re-routing of customers through a loading bay is putting lives in danger.

Market Traders' Association chairman, butcher John Doherty, said: "Since the building work started and we lost car parking spaces last November, traders have been struggling.

"A deal was negotiated which gave us a 10 per cent reduction in rent for the first three months of disruption.

"When that came to an end, we were hoping to negotiate a further reduction or compensation until the work is finished, but that has come to nothing.

"Three representatives of the MTA went to the annual rent review meeting in Wigan in June where we stated our case, but they don't listen.

"The council makes £250,000 a year net profit from rents on this site alone and is not prepared to put anything back in.

"What is going to happen is that eventually this market could fold.

"The three months reduction in rents, which average £200 a week, was better than nothing, but we are back to square one.

"The association commissioned a chartered surveyor's report which concluded that rents were too high in comparison to other markets and other local outlets, but this too was ignored.

"People are going to lose this hall because it's not going to be viable. Traders are hanging on by their fingertips, some businesses that have been established for over 40 years.

"We have been told there is no further negotiations on rent. We take it or leave it, and there is no point in organising a rent strike because the council can pull the plug after 28 days notice.

"We feel the public should know what's happening at their market. The council is all take and give nothing. We are going to make as loud a noise as possible to put our points across."

The Association has written back to Wigan Council chief executive Stephen Jones, who sympathised with the traders' predicament, but pointed out that the rent increase had been postponed until November 1 which was not the case in Wigan.

He said: "It is premature to make judgements on the loss of trade while work is proceeding, but I am confident that by November, when the work is completed and national traders are opening their new premises, the benefits of the scheme will be felt by all the market traders.

"It must not be forgotten that the cost of the scheme is over £2m and such an investment in retailing in the town centre ought to be applauded." LEIGH market hall traders, whose businesses have been hit by building work on the £2 million Spinning Gate mall extension, have suffered a new blow.

They have learned that their rents are to rise by two and a half per cent from November.

Now the angry stallholders fear the increase could be the final nail in the coffin and Leigh shoppers could lose their market.

They are also alarmed the closure of two access doors and the re-routing of customers through a loading bay is putting lives in danger.

Market Traders' Association chairman, butcher John Doherty, said: "Since the building work started and we lost car parking spaces last November, traders have been struggling.

"A deal was negotiated which gave us a 10 per cent reduction in rent for the first three months of disruption.

"When that came to an end, we were hoping to negotiate a further reduction or compensation until the work is finished, but that has come to nothing.

"What is going to happen is that eventually this market could fold.

"We have been told there is no further negotiations on rent. We take it or leave it, and there is no point in organising a rent strike because the council can pull the plug after 28 days notice."

Wigan Council chief executive Stephen Jones said: "It is premature to make judgements on the loss of trade while work is proceeding, but I am confident that by November, when the work is completed and national traders are opening their new premises, the benefits of the scheme will be felt by all the market traders.

"It must not be forgotten that the cost of the scheme is over £2 million and such an investment in retailing in the town centre ought to be applauded."