New regime planned for Barnard Castle's resurgent weekly market

TOWN councillors are to draw up a new set of regulations and charges for Barnard Castle’s weekly Wednesday market.
The move follows an audit of the council’s working practices.
The council was given top marks after the inspection, confirming that it operating well. However, one area highlighted by auditor Gordon Fletcher as requiring attention was the operation of the weekly market.
He said the council risked losing income by not have its own procedures in place for the market.
In his report, Mr Fletcher states: “From March 2016, Barnard Castle Town Council has run the Wednesday market previously operated by Durham County Council.
“The town council has continued with the system of collecting rents. Charges have remained the same, with regular traders occupying most of the stalls, along with casual traders.
“The town council does not have its own procedures for market rents and uses Durham County Council procedures which are not specific for Barnard Castle.”
Following Mr Fletcher’s comments, the issue will be discussed by members of the council's services committee on February 20.
The market has performed well since the town council took it over.
By January 9, the council had received £6,076 in fees and charges having already met and surpassed its budgeted income of £5,000 for the year. Expenditure on the market was £1,716 – mainly made up of payments to a contractor to erect the safety barriers each week.
Town clerk Michael King said as a result, the Wednesday market was likely to return a surplus of £5,000 to general council funds at the end of the financial year.
He said the market had done particularly well last summer, attracting a number of new or occasional traders to fill in the gaps between those who regularly attend.
New regulations drawn up by the town council are likely to include a pricing structure based on the size of stall and an incentive scheme which rewards traders who turn up in bad weather and throughout the winter months.
At last week’s meeting of the council’s resources committee, members noted Mr Fletcher's findings and agreed to go ahead with drawing up a new set of procedures and charges for the market.