Markets & Street Trading
Minutes of Ridley Road Market Traders Association
Quarterly Meeting
Held on: Monday 22nd June 2009 at 10.30am to 12.00pm
Room G3, 263 Mare Street
COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT:
Tom McCourt - Assistant Director (TM)
Seamus Adams - Head of Service (SA)
John Wheatley - Refuse Manager (JW)
Ryan Duff - Project Manager (RD)
Michelle Morgan - Senior Administrator
RRMTA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT:
Larry Julian - RRMTA Chairman (LJ)
John Giovanni - RRMTA Vice Chairman (JG)
Harvey Bloom - RRMTA Secretary (HB)
APOLOGIES:
Kassandra Polyzoides - Project Manager (KP)
NO. / ITEM / OWNER / PROPOSED TIMESCALE1. / WELCOME
TM took the chair and declared the meeting open. He welcomed all those present.
This was the first quarterly meeting under the new management for Markets & Street Trading from 1st June 2009. This meeting in particular was to discuss the new management structure, organisation and strategy and establish the background and what the current position was with regards to Ridley Road Market.
Everyone introduced themselves and gave a brief background of their role.
HB stated that these meeting normally took place quarterly, with additional monthly meetings with the Head of Markets and Market Manager. This was accepted and SA stated he would diary schedule meetings for the next 12 months.
Action:
SA to schedule quarterly and monthly meetings. / Quarterly meetings have been scheduled for 07.09.09, 07.12.09 and 15.09.09.
2. / MINUTES AND ACTION REVIEWS FROM LAST MEETING
SA suggested that only the action points be discussed from the Minutes.
The outstanding action points were identified and SA said he would obtain an update on these.
Action points still outstanding:
·Outline Project Plan for Regeneration Works will be sent to HB.
· The RRMTA will be informed of the outcome of the meeting with Network Rail regarding shop fronts.
· Permanent Traders will be written to and informed of the proposed Regeneration Works and the new market layout and the fact they can request for pitch transfers (if they so wished) which will be referred to the Officer Licensing Panel for consideration.
· John (Leader) will let the RRMTA know how many vacant (unlicensed) pitches they are at Ridley Road market.
· Sort out the waiting list for casual traders and get prospective traders into the St Marks Rise end of the market albeit taking into consideration concerns raised by Janet Johnson.
· Hazel will discuss with Andy Cunningham and find out how many (if any) permanent pitches can be safely allocated without affecting the Regeneration Works.
HB requested that going forward a proposed timescale for completion of actions be added into the action points. This was accepted. / KP
KP
SA
SA
SA
TM / Outcome: Josile Munro was looking into producing an enforcement portfolio with regards to the shops. This will now be dealt with by Seamus Adams.
Outcome: Network Rail cancelled the meeting and have not responded to requests for a new meeting.
Outcome: This has been completed. The market staff confirmed on 29th June thatall those on the waiting listhave been written to and some potential traders havereplied.
3. / RRMTA
HB gave a brief background of the RRMTA and a list of their key objectives.
He stated that the RRMTA currently had 117 members. Member eligibility is open to Permanent and Temporary Licensees and Registered Assistants. There was a formal Constitution.
SA stated that the Council wanted to establish the ground rules, identify who is doing what and maintain a better relationship with the traders. He stated that the team ethos was transparency.
JW said that his aim was to keep the markets clean and tidy and said he had also made a start in dealing with waste issues.
LJ stated that the dustcarts were blocking off the entrances to the markets at key times and vehicles were also left unattended.
JW said he was looking into how waste was handled and also to remove the need for a vehicle to be present on Saturdays.
SA said this should be picked up at future monthly meetings.
JG raised the issue regarding proper instructions for enforcement of commercial waste.
TM said this would be discussed fully at monthly meetings and all issues will be part of any operational plan.
Organisation Structures
TM gave explanations of the organisation and team structures under the new management.
TM said there was currently no operational plan or timescale at present and this needed to be put in place to establish what the Council can do and what services can be offered to Ridley Road Market. He stated that the key objectives were:
· Physical Improvements
· Promote Markets· Work with Traders
· Operational Improvements
Action
·TM to provide the RRMTA with structure charts.
· TM to produce Operational Plan.
HB enquired as to the identity of the new Markets Manager and raised concerns regarding former Market Managers. LJ also raised concerns.
SA reassured the RRMTA that a new Markets Manager would shortly be in place and the Markets Team were in place in order that Markets and Street Trading would progressively move forward.
Following a discussion on enforcement, SA stated that a common-sense approach would be taken wherever possible.
JG enquired whether the Officer Licensing Panel meetings were still taking place.
Tom McCourt confirmed the next meeting was due in 5 weeks time and he understood these to involve issues regarding traders misbehaving, moving pitches etc. He said he would obtain a brief of the present position.
Action:
· TM to schedule Officer Licensing Panel Meeting.
SA mentioned there was an issue regarding the issue of licences and pitches to casual traders in that the permanent traders felt the casual traders were getting better treatment. Seamus said that there needed to be balance that it was not one rule for one and one for the other.
HB said there needed to be a policy put in place taking into account the licencing rights of permanent traders as detailed in both hackney Council Street Trading Rules and Regulations and the London Local Authorities Act.
Ridley Road Market Objectives
TM stated that the Council’s objectives were for physical and visual improvements to be implemented such as the issue of electrics to be resolved before the winter; better promotion of markets and strategy would be critical.
A discussion on markets in an around Hackney took place.
Ridley Road Improvement Programme
HB gave a brief background of a presentation on improvements he gave to the previous Market Management Team, the three Dalston Councillors and Councillor Laing. He stated that although all had agreed that the proposals should be implemented within 12 months no progress had been made. . He said he had given a new statement of requirements to Kassandra Polyzoides of the operational requirements for traders and said he would forward a copy to SA.
Action:
· HB to send copy of the SOR to SA.
The question of the design and sign off by the Cabinet which was scheduled for September 2009 were also raised.
SA said there needed to be a project plan identifying the main headings to be done and the key areas to achieve this.
HB requested that two project plans are produced; a detailed authorised plan up to Cabinet sign-off and an indicative/forecast plan from Cabinet sign-off to work completion.
Action:
· TM said he would obtain a timetable from Kassandra for approval and a timetable for the start of the works for sign off by the Cabinet and also how long it is anticipated the works would take to complete.
· TM stated that he would ask his Streetscene team to look at the possibility of commencing the physical improvement work as early in 2010 as possible.
Electrics Repairs
HB stated that the RRMTA were told by previous management that there was a budget available for the repair of the electrics but there was still a minor problem with legal of which he believed was to do with the contract. The RRMTA were concerned that there would be no electric during the winter months which had been the situation last winter.
Action:
· TM said he would get an update but confirmed there was a budget to deal with the issue of electrics and he was pretty sure it was the question of the contract that was an issue, but he believed had now been overcome. Andy Cunningham will be able to input orders now raised and a project plans from contractors etc. / TM
TM / Structure chart emailed to HB on 6th August 2009 by MM.
Due to be scheduled end of August/early September.
For the final scheme:
·Completion of Ridley RoadImprovement Consultation and Options along with linked Markets Strategy in October 2009.
·Funding already confirmed for street scene improvements within Ridley Road for 2009/10 and 2010/11 budgets.
·Detailed construction designs byFebruary 2010.
· Anticipated start on site June 2010 with completion by end of March 2010. At the moment this is based on worst case scenario and once the details of the improvement is known and agreed this will be refined and discussed with the traders. This is based on 3-4 months to undertake all of the new electrics, allowing for 6 to 8 weeks for the electrical connections. Repaving work starting after the electrical works are complete and working around the market traders and their operations taking 4 months. Allow a 2 month Christmas break to allow traders to maximise trading during this period.
For the interim electrical works – orders to NPS and Purdy’s have been raised and the latter is in the process of securing the necessary materials. A walk-through with both NPS and Purdy’s is to take place on Friday 24th July. A works programme will then be developed and a meeting with the RRTA organised.
4. / ANY OTHER BUSINESS
HB raised the issue of the internal investigation led by Michael Dunn, in which a number of traders were interviewed. HB attended 2 of the interviews, but notes of the interviews had still not been received 4-6 weeks later, and claimed due to the time lapse the notes would be difficult to verify.
Action
·SA and TM will pick this up at a meeting to be scheduled with Michael Dunn.
SA briefly mentioned the issue of a trader who had raised a formal complaint and had been reallocated a pitch.
A brief discussion of the case took place.
The meeting closed. / SA/TM
5. / DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, 7th September 2009
Quarterly meetings scheduled:
Monday, 7th December 2009 at G3, 263 Mare Street
Monday, 15th March 2009 at G3, 263 Mare Street