Support floods in for rents battle traders

More than 3,500 traders and shoppers have signed a petition demanding a U-turn on controversial rent increases at a Black Country market.

Support has flooded in for traders at Bilston Indoor Market who are up in arms over the six per cent rise which came into effect in April.

Traders at the indoor market had been asking customers to add their signatures since February, when proposals to put up rents at Bilston, while freezing rates elsewhere in the city emerged.

Traders' association chairman Jag Sandhu, who has run a soft furnishings stall in the market since 1987, said the response to the petition, which has been submitted to council bosses, was overwhelming.

Traders in the city centre will continue to pay between £12.70 and £30.90 a day. At Bilston outdoor market, fees will also remain static at between £12.95 to £36.40 depending on location and day of the week. Wednesfield stallholders pay £12.70 to £22.45 a day.

But Bilston indoor market traders have had their rents put up to between £24.50 a day to £31.34 a week.