Tuesday February 9, 2010

Dear colleague,

Minister Applauds Nabma

CLG Minister, Rosie Winterton, pictured with NABMA President David Farmer at the Building Better Markets Seminar, applauded the work and influence of NABMA in the recent Markets 21 agenda.

 
Rosie Winterton spoke in her role as Government Markets Champion and added “ I am clear on what an effective organisation NABMA is and congratulate it on the lobbying that it has coordinated – that has been outstanding - alongside the way you have worked tirelessly to raise issues and then indicate what help you can offer to overcome them.”

Building Better Markets, Birmingham

NABMA’s recent One Day Conference at Birmingham was hailed as a great success by delegates. There was widespread recognition of the enthusiasm and support of Rosie Winterton, CLG Minister and Market Champion, who talked about the Government’s response to the CLG Report and made a number of announcements regarding how the Government intends to respond.

The Minister announced that there would shortly be the publication of a new guide to advertise the Government support for market traders. “Growing Markets?” would explain how traders can benefits from the Government’s package of support so that their businesses thrive. This guide will shortly be distributed to everyone involved with markets – the Market Managers and, most importantly, the traders themselves – to raise awareness of the schemes and how to access them.

It is likely that this new guide will be launched on the 16th March at one of the markets featured in Market of the Year.

Further details will be given shortly.

Nabma Accolades

“NABMA – You’re Meetings and Services just get better and better” - this was the accolade that NABMA received from Birkenhead as a result of the recent Birmingham event.

Delegates gave a 97% rating of very good or good to the Building Markets Event held at Birmingham. Other comments included

“NABMA is the leading markets organisation – it is vital to be part of it and its interaction with other agencies”

“A great opportunity to network once again. Well done to all concerned for a great effort and large turn out.”

“Excellent Conference. Really good learning points and speakers”

Communities and Local Government Working Party

Work has already started in responding to the recommendations of the CLG Committee. A Retail Working Group has been set up and three separate Project Groups are now meeting to deal with specific subject matter. The three Project Groups are in respect of Good Practice, Business Support and Management Models.

NABMA representatives on these Project Groups are:

Good Practice Graham Wilson, NABMA’s Chief Executive
Peter Wilson, Darlington
Nick Rhodes, Leicester
Chris Gregory, Walsall

Business Support Krys Zasada, NABMA’s Policy Development Manager Malcolm Veigas, Bolton
Neil Ehrhart, Nottingham

Management Models Graham Wilson, NABMA’s Chief Executive
Krys Zasada, NABMA’s Policy Development Manager
Jean-Paul Augusté. Chairman of WUWM European Retail Group
Alan Ottey, Nuneaton

Government Consultation on Street Trading and Pedlars

The deadline for responding is the 12th February and a copy of NABMA’s response has been circulated to all members. If any members want to write to BIS endorsing what NABMA has to say or make their own representations, then they can do so by writing to the following e-mail address:

streettradingpedlaryconsultation@bis.gsi.gov.uk

Market of the Year

This year’s competition was probably one of the best yet. We had a record number of entries and there were some fantastic examples of excellent markets, innovation and special events.

We were delighted to welcome Thomasina Miers, Celebrity Chef and Writer, to make the presentations and, as always, Thomasina spoke enthusiastically about her support for markets, and the markets industry generally.

This year’s winners are listed below:

Best Market Attraction – Nuneaton
Best Private Market – Hitchin Market
Best Street/Outdoor Market – Hinckley Market
Best Indoor Market – Bolton
Best Speciality Market – Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre
Best Small Market – Ipswich
Best Wholesale Market – New Covent Garden Market
Britain’s Favourite Market – Coventry Indoor Market

We are looking forward to making local presentations to all the markets in the coming weeks to celebrate the achievements of the markets concerned.

Annual Conference 2010

Please make sure you have a note in your diary for this year’s Conference at Buxton from the 12th-14th September. With all the work being undertaken with the Government to raise the profile of the markets industry we will be focusing on the various initiatives that are currently being pursued. Make sure you are there.

Celebrate with our President

If you have any local events or presentations then our President, Councillor David Farmer, would welcome an invitation as part of his commitment to visit as many markets as possible during his term of office