“Over the last eighteen months the Government has given increased recognition to the market industry following the House of Commons, Communities and Local Government Committee Report.  While the title of the report “Market Failure? – Can the Traditional Market Survive?” - does not provide the most inspiring of beginnings. It is important to emphasise that the CLG Committee put forward thirty two recommendations that were intended to assist and strengthen the market industry.

The Government’s response to the CLG Committee recommendations was to endorse all thirty two recommendations and this was superb news for the market industry. The attitude of the Government was further strengthened by the appointment of two Market Champions. Rosie Winterton, CLG Minister, and Jim Fitzpatrick, DEFRA Minister, were both given particular responsibilities for markets and designated Market Champions.

A Government Working Party was established to look at how the list of recommendations might be implemented and this Working Party is led by CLG and has representatives from many Government departments. Work has started on addressing the various recommendations at the beginning of 2010 and it is hoped that the work will be completed by the end of the year.

In addition to the main Working Party three ad hoc project groups have been established to look at business support, good practice and management models. These three project groups will be producing a host of good practice examples that can be used by members to improve the quality of the markets provision.

NABMA is playing a leading role in the Working Party and all the project groups. One of the first tangible results of the work undertaken is the production of a leaflet “Growing Markets” which is intended to provide a range of business support to traders. This initiative was launched by Rosie Winterton at Mansfield on the 15th March and all NABMA members will be aware of the details of this initiative. Copies of the leaflet have been sent to all NABMA members.

Following the 2010 General Election we were delighted that the new coalition government decided to continue the work with markets and Andrew Stunell, CLG Minister, was appointed to have overall responsibility for markets. Andrew came to the NABMA Conference at Buxton and launched two important publications relating to Good Practice and Markets Management. There was also an Executive Summary outlining the government’s attitude to markets.

To view the report please click here.

Government welcomed the report and in October 2009 published its response recognising the importance of local support for markets. Please click here to view this response.

The leaflet “Growing Markets: Championing the Market Stall” can be downloaded at by clicking here.

Please find below the a list of market policies and procedures from the Retail Markets: Good Practice Guide which has been drawn up by the Working Party.

Good Practice Checklist

The Good Practice, Markets Management and Executive Summary publications can be downloaded at the following website http://www.communities.gov.uk/regeneration/publications/all/

by entering markets into the search engine.  If any member has any difficulty in identifying any of the documents listed above, please contact NABMA at (Enable Javascript to see the email address)