One year on from a controversial decision, Birkenhead Market traders feel like they’re getting nowhere
Tommy Roberts from Moneyworths Butchers felt Wirral Council was treating them like they were thick(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Birkenhead Market traders feel they are being ignored as relations continue to sour with Wirral Council over a year on from a controversial decision. Wirral Council is currently planning to relocate Birkenhead Market and invest £12m into the former Argos on Princes Pavements, a regeneration project that has been controversial since it was first revealed by the ECHO in September 2023.
Leaked emails later suggested original plans had been scrapped months earlier by council officers. The local authority said those original plans could not go ahead due to cost, but market traders have continued to oppose any move to Argos, believing it to be too small and out of the way. Despite their opposition, the council moved ahead with the former Argos plans in March 2024.
It has now been over a year since the council made that decision. Since then, the council asked for public feedback; expected costs for the project have gone from £8m to £12m, and this week a new substation was approved.
Seddon Construction was appointed in March to move the controversial scheme forward and in April, the council issued a call for local businesses to come forward to help with the project. The new market is expected to be complete in just over a year, after which the existing market will be demolished.
Two recent Information Commissioner’s Office decisions have caused further headaches. An asbestos claim was later found to be untrue after the council was made to provide a report, and the council was forced to acknowledge no formal public engagement took place until September 2024, six months after the Argos decision.
The information watchdog slammed the local authority for “delayed and unclear responses” and raised concerns that the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act were not being taken seriously. The ICO said “mishandling straightforward requests for information is likely to result in complaints” and believed a complaint “could easily have been averted in this case if the Council had initially handled the request properly.”
Birkenhead Market is much quieter now than it used to be(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Market traders are still unhappy with the move, and their relationship with the council appears to be breaking down. After the March meeting, promises of regular meetings were made by the council to the BMTA.
When a third meeting with council officers was cancelled, Joe Orr, the chair of the BMTA, sent a scathing email seen by the ECHO to the council over a lack of updates and ignored emails. He said the council’s response since March “can only be described as a series of hidden agendas and poor communication,” adding: “The lack of information and delays make it increasingly difficult for traders who are trying to plan for the future both personally and professionally.”
Questions over how the market will be run, what rents will be, and what traders will be chosen for the new market are understood to have not been answered. He also questioned plans for a bar in the market, concerned this would add to antisocial behaviour problems in the town centre.
He said: “These questions have been raised repeatedly over the past year and consistently ignored. A full year is more than adequate time to provide at least some answers and to produce a clear timeline that traders can use to plan their futures.
“At present, there appears to be a complete lack of direction and accountability. I sincerely hope this changes soon, as the ongoing uncertainty is causing real stress and anxiety for those whose livelihoods depend on this market.”
He added: “Many of us have traded here for years, even decades and we deserve to be treated with dignity, not as an afterthought in a logistical process. Communications of this nature only increase the anxiety and uncertainty we are already experiencing.”
Joe Orr, chair of the Birkenhead Market Tenants Association(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Mr Orr told the ECHO: “There are traders in here that want to go forward with the market. We want to go forward with the market but people are being forced to look elsewhere because of a lack of information,” adding: “We are asking for honesty. It’s just broken promises we have had.”
While he said he was open to changes like bringing in a nighttime offer, he claimed the council was suggesting at one point a karaoke bar, adding: “It feels like the bar is their main focus. That is their main focus and not us, the people who have been here for a long time.”
Tommy Roberts, who runs the market’s butchers, said: “They think we are thick and we do not know. You haven’t got a clue or you do not want to tell us. I think they are scared to tell us because they are scared of offending people.”
Greg McTigue said they’d hoped for better relations with the council but things had gone downhill(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Originally elected with the hope of a better relationship with the council, Greg McTigue, the BMTA’s vice-chair, said: “We have been totally open with them. Everything they have wanted from us we said they’d have it. Always good natured and non-confrontational.
“That is the way I like it. I thought when we started the process, we could all get along reasonably well.”
However, he said he was sad about the way things have gone, adding: “Not only have we been messed about but we have been misled. It feels like we have been treated as lesser beings with none of the intelligence that they have got. It’s democracy as long as you agree with me.”
A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “Work is progressing and construction will start on site in summer. The current focus has been on working on the design development and the operating model, communication with traders will take place with more regularity as the project progresses and key pieces of work are completed.”
The substation announced this week was not mentioned in the market report published in March 2024 and no new substation appears to be included in the proposed plans published last September. Wirral Council did not provide further clarification on why this was now needed.