Parking bays plea to save Wednesfield Market

The market is now down to just three stalls out of 26 – and shop owner Max McEvoy, who runs Juicy Fruits, claims many people are being put off coming in altogether because there is nowhere to park.

He is urging the council to condense its dwindling market and create more parking space – in the hope it will entice more shoppers into the struggling High Street.

Despite lockdown, the village’s two main car parks are full of cars from workers at nearby businesses on a daily basis, it is claimed.

However the once-bustling market – founded in 1960 – now welcomes just a trickle of shoppers each day, the businessman claims.

Writing on the official Wednesfield Village Alliance Facebook page, the fruit and vegetable store owner said: “For a number of years, the High Street has had the market on it.

“In order to accommodate this, they removed the ability for customers to drive through, and took away all of those parking bays that meant customers were able to pop in and get their shopping.

“This has slowly suffocated the life out of the High Street. With full car parks and an empty dying market, many shoppers are put off.

“So my proposal is to condense the market – remember most days it is just three stalls now out of 26 – down to the half of the High Street where cars cannot go along in front of the Post Office area.

“The pavement is so wide there you could even double them up, make a block of stalls so they are all still available if the council ever want to try and make Wednesfield Market work again.

“And without the stalls at the top end, from the Heron down to the roundabout on Church Street, you would have all that huge wide pavement space available for one massive load of parking bays, at an angle so they can pull straight in,” he added.

“You could probably fit 100 cars along there. It is absurd to me that we have all that potential car parking bay room taken up by loads of empty market stalls.”

Mr McEvoy, aged 50, originally hails from Oxford and bought the Juicy Fruits shop three years ago.

He said the parking proposal was just one of many suggestions he was gathering from local traders in a bid to save the ailing High Street.

Wednesfield South Councillor Greg Brackenridge said: “Local high streets and markets across the UK have many challenges including the increase of internet shopping, the declining economy and the current Covid-19 situation.

“Local businesses in Wednesfield have proven extraordinarily resilient but they need help.

“Councillors assisted with establishing a traders’ organisation, organising events throughout the year and recently a variety of individual business requests for help with grants and assistance.

“Wednesfield councillors will continue to push for regeneration, working with the local traders, volunteers, faith groups, schools, public services and the many other individuals and organisations who give their time and effort to Wednesfield to protect our much-loved village.”

In March, Wolverhampton Council announced it is working with traders to offer them more opportunities to sell their wares and increase footfall – such as taking on an additional stall for £1.

The incentives include:

• A new, or casual, trader who wants to be licensed will receive a 50 per cent rent reduction for 26 weeks.

• Traders taking on additional stalls will be charged just £1 through the Pound a Pitch promotion.

• Licensed traders who work four days full-time will get one day rent-free each week.

• A licensed trader who introduces someone who takes on a stall for 13 weeks will receive a 10 per cent rent reduction on their own rent for four weeks.

• Key stalls on the market will be charged only £5 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays when it re-opens.

The measures were introduced before all markets across the city closed due to coronavirus – but have remained on offer as they start to re-open.