UPDATED: VICTORY - Frome and Wells Saturday Markets Must Be Re-Opened

 

More Mendip Madness

VICTORY - BREAKING NEWS: BBC Politics Reporter Ruth Bradley has informed us this morning that Mendip District Council has caved in, after over 700 people signed the petition.

Andrew Pope says:

"As I told Ruth Bradley, I wasn't listening to BBC Radio Somerset this morning and neither were our other supporters, it seems. It is perhaps no wonder considering the poor quality of politics reporting by the local BBC. SomersetLive and the County Gazette are far superior.

This latest gaffe by Mendip District Council just shows, as we said in the letter to Cllr Wyke, that Mendip District Council is reactive, and not pro-active. It just shows that Councillor Ros Wyke is a follower and not a Leader.

She should never have closed these markets in the first place. Traders have lost revenue and members of the public have had to go without the open air markets.

We supported Frome Chamber of Commerce, Independents for Frome (their update from 4th Feb is below), the Frome Town Council, and all residents and traders affected, to oppose this.

I contacted Independents for Frome Town Councillor Scott Ward on Sunday 7th February to offer our support, as we had previously been in touch.

I expressed concern to Scott about Mendip District Council's handling of this.

If you look at our website, and on Facebook, you will see that how the Council handles things is an all too common concern amongst Frome residents.

Mendip District Council and Councillor Ros Wyke must now explain why they closed them in the first place, and created such aggravation and worry for all concerned."

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Mendip District Council is upsetting residents again.

They can't be trusted.

They don't listen.

They are tin-eared.

We intend to make them listen, even when they don't want to, and just like we did over their governance and their accounts.

Over the weekend, we supported the campaign and the petition to re-open the markets on Saturdays.

We have written to the Leader of the Council, Lib Dem Councillor Ros Wyke.

What's the point of voting in Lib Dems, if they are the same as the Tories?

The full letter from our Leader Andrew Pope, is below:

Andrew Pope

Letter from Somerset Independents to Mendip District Council Leader

Councillor Ros Wyke

Leader

Mendip District Council
Cannard’s Grave Road
Shepton Mallet
Somerset
BA4 5BT

By e-mail,

cc: Frome Town Council, Frome Chamber of Commerce

Re: Frome Market

Dear Councillor Wyke,

We are residents of Somerset who continue to suffer from the authorities’ failure to deal properly with the Covid-19 Pandemic. We are also registered officers of Somerset Independents, a pressure group and registered political party which listens and acts for Somerset residents.

We write in support of Mendip residents who want to shop at local markets, in the open air and with socially-distanced safety in mind, not shopping in enclosed spaces. And we write in support of local traders who are trying so hard to survive during the Pandemic. We need to have the markets open on Saturdays.

The Pandemic has been handled so badly by Boris Johnson's Conservative Government. However, there has been inadequate pushback from the Conservative County Council nor the district councils such as Mendip District Council, which you supposedly lead with your fellow Lib Dems. Lib Dem or Tory, same old story, residents tell us.

Your Council was only too glad to hand out Government Covid grants to businesses. and try to take the credit for it. But now you are putting traders at risk, and public health at risk – whilst ignoring residents, traders and Frome Town Council.

Mendip Council is not trusted by Mendip residents. Despite your frequent claims of openness and transparency and regular other reactive and delusional press releases, Mendip Council cannot be trusted by Mendip residents.

Mendip is not trusted because it does not listen. Mendip’s inability to listen is proved by your councillors’ failure to change the Constitution, despite repeated requests by Somerset Independents. Your decision to ignore us was proved so damaging by the Saxonvale debacle at the recent Planning Board, where councillors failed to allow adequate public speaking time for such a controversial scheme. They voted 2 to 1 to ignore residents and 258 objections, even when given another chance to listen.

Mendip is not trusted because it failed to ensure adequate governance over taxpayer’s finances, and the investigation by Ernst and Young into your accounts, following the formal Objection from Somerset Independents Officer Denise Wyatt. Why didn’t you listen? Because ignoring residents is your habit.

And it is proved by the fact that former Chair of Scrutiny, Councillor Philip Ham, was named in a Private Eye article in September 2020, in relation to conflicts of interest on planning applications affecting Frome at Sandys Hill Lane and Coleford. Ironically, Councillor Philip Ham subsequently resigned in November as Chair of Scrutiny, citing a lack of scrutiny over Easthill and scrutiny being "ludicrous", "farcical" and "controlled by officers". Mendip shuts down debate.

Now Mendip District Council has been the subject of embarrassing articles over grave-digging on the apparently locked Easthill site, instead of at the adjacent Cemetery, with articles appearing in SomersetLive, The Times, Daily Mail and BBC. Once again, your Council bungles and tries to cover it up with PR spin.

You are reactive, not pro-active. You are not in control. You are tin-eared.

The situation with the markets is of your own making, Councillor Wyke.

Why didn't you try to work with Frome Town Council, traders and local residents, before Lib Dem Councillor Joshua Burr made this rash decision over licensing? You still have the chance to. Your press release was all spin¹.

Frome Town Council has come to you with a proposal, but you aren't listening.

With Easthill, the Council's Constitution and governance, Sandys Hill Lane and Saxonvale, you weren't listening to residents.

And unless you change now, it's the same with the markets.

On the markets, Somerset Independents supports Independents for Frome, Frome Town Council, Frome Chamber of Commerce and the petition to re-open the markets.

We are promoting the petition. At the time of writing, the petition already has over 700 signatures. Somerset Independents will continue to put pressure on you, until you sort this mess out.

You need to listen. You need to act.

You need to agree a solution. And now.

At the Scrutiny Board, over Easthill, it was you Councillor Wyke who spoke at the beginning to shut down debate and not listen to the public. It’s typical for Mendip District Council, sadly.

And now you have literally shut down the market on Saturdays.

Under the Tories and now the Lib Dems, it seems that Mendip District Council does not listen, and is anything but open or transparent. What is the point of voting in the Lib Dems to run Somerset’s councils, if there is no change?

It seems that it really is Lib Dem or Tory, same old story.

Regards,

Andrew Pope

Leader

Somerset Independents

1 Mendip District Council, “Mendip Markets continue daily, despite COVID”, https://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/9754/Mendip-Markets-continue-daily-despite-COVID

 

Statement by Independents for Frome on 4th February 2021

PLEASE READ - IMPORTANT MARKET INFO (emphasis added)

Frome Town Council (Councillors and Staff) have been working hard behind the scenes to try and get the Saturday Market back up and running but so far have been unsuccessful and we here at ifF have made the decision to explain why that is.

On January 16th our much-loved Market Traders were informed that due to staff being reassigned to help work on the COVID vaccination program, all markets across Mendip would be closed. It then soon became known that markets on Wednesdays in Wells would continue.

On January 17th, MDC confirmed that Frome Market could stay open on Wednesdays (other Towns Markets open on various weekdays and were also allowed to stay open on these days). MDC cited a reduce in footfall and trader numbers, something which has been debunked by the Market Traders of Frome who say that while the number of people at the market has fallen (due to restrictions on the number of people that can meet up) they have not seen a significant reduction in spend.

The Market Traders have been working hard to get support to re-open the market, offering their own time to manage the market safely or to replace the market manager in other areas to free her up to run the Saturday Market. Members of the public who work in events have offered to run the markets for MDC.

Frome Town Council have contacted MDC with several propositions that would allow the market to reopen, safely this coming Saturday 6th Feb. All of which have been shot down, dismissed or not even looked at.

Possible Solution Suggested:

Frome Town Council runs the Market in the interim on behalf of MDC with their insurance. It has been confirmed by the insurer that the market would be covered if the landowner (MDC) gives permission. MDC have said this is incorrect and FTC would need to be issued a market license which MDC Leader Ros Wyke has said would be 'Impossible' to arrange for this coming Saturday. Once again, our insurers say that all we need is for Mendip to say Yes and the market could be back on by Saturday Feb 6th!

Frome Town Council and Frome Chamber of Commerce have also offered to incur the costs for someone to replace the Market Manager in the duties that are stooping her from being at the market this Saturday, whether that be with an FTC Staff Member or an MDC Staff Member. We are still awaiting a response on this proposal.

Frome Town Council have also offered to cover the costs of management and administration of the market while no revenue is being generated by the market.

FTC have tried so hard to get the market back up and running for this coming Saturday but have been met with indifference, red tape and a small group of people who are not interested in listening, it’s just unfortunate that the people who don’t want to know are the people who can make this happen. In fact, Ros Wyke, the leader of MDC has stated that she would not even be looking at any proposals for a month after the initial closure which would be this coming Tuesday 9th February.

None of this is good enough! Most residents in Frome support reopening the market on Saturdays immediately, the Market Traders are losing their livelihoods and the Liberal Democrat led Mendip District Council is once again showing how completely out of synch they are with the needs of Frome and other Towns in Mendip.

We will be calling on all District Councillors who represent Frome to state their views on the Market and whether they believe that Ros Wyke (leader of the Council), Josh Burr (Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Markets) are doing the best they can to get the markets open again as soon as possible because we believe that they are failing to serve the people of this town and the traders that work here.

The work that MDC is undertaking with the vaccination program is vital and so important but we can’t see why it’s not possible to do both. Please let Frome Town Council help to get our Saturday Market back open. Just say Yes!