Wolverhampton Wholesale Market is here to stay says council
The future of Wolverhampton's Wholesale Market has been secured after council chiefs said it would stay at its current location.
Bosses had been considering closing or moving the site due to long standing issues with not enough traders using the venue.
But now they have had a change of heart and say they are looking to secure the future of the market at its current Hickman Avenue base.
Traders there supply stallholders at regular markets around the area with produce including fruit and vegetables and fish.
As part of the budget proposals for next year the council had said it was considering either the closure or re-provision of the site as it was only 72 per cent occupied.
Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Tim Clark said that idea, which was considered in October, is now no longer on the table.
He added: "Instead, we are now looking at ways to make better use of the under occupied wholesale market site which may include relocating another service to the building."
No decision has yet been made about which department could move to the site if the proposal goes ahead.
Last year an £80,000 repair project had to be carried out at the site after urgent structural problems were found. The plans for the wholesale market come amid proposals to overhaul the main indoor and outdoor markets off Market Square in the city centre.
Both are due to be replaced as part of a £25 million plan to revamp Wolverhampton.
A landscaped park and new modern building for the markets is proposed, with a pedestrian link to the Sainsbury's superstore which is going to be built on nearby Raglan Street. The markets had been in decline for many years but in April 2012 it was revealed they had brought in £89,000 more than they had been expected to.
However, they are still heavily subsidised by Wolverhampton City Council.
The authority lost £181,000 on the markets but had been budgeting to lose as much as £270,250.
The markets had suffered because of neighbouring businesses closing up in preparation for the £300 million Summer Road shopping centre, which was scrapped in 2011 after more than seven years of planning.
