No to Privatisation Plans for Our Kirkgate Market
January 14, 2012 Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market
With these proposals most of this profit would now be pocketed by distant shareholders and public services would suffer.
The report on the future of the market has finally been published – eight weeks after consultants were parachuted in by the council (Quarterbridge win Council Contract) with instructions to set out plans to reduce the size of the market and privatise it.
To read the full report click here
The report clearly proposes privatisation of the market. In a move very similar to the Corn Exchange fiasco the council would lease out the market for more than 99 years to a limited liability partnership and would therefore lose any power to influence the way that it’s run.
The market would then become a profit making machine for private investors who would only be interested in getting back the money they have invested in the refurbishment.
Reading between the lines of this hastily written report it’s clear that Quarterbridge, who make their money out of this form of refurbishment and rebranding, are proposing a uniform look – (complete with uniforms for traders) that will turn our market into a novelty supermarket.
At the moment the Market makes a profit that is reinvested across other public services in Leeds benefiting all residents. With these proposals most of this profit would now be pocketed by distant shareholders and public services would suffer.
Continue Reading. . . . .
Category: Market News
