Friday April 8, 2011

Dear colleague,

New Membership Year

We have just started a new membership year and NABMA will be doing all it can to show value for its membership fees. Over the last few weeks we have been making a fantastic offer to attend our Annual Conference at Harrogate in September. With support from the Barceló Hotel Group and our sponsors we have been able to offer members a delegate fee of half the amount we were charging in 2010. This has been a genuine attempt to give our members extra value for supporting NAMBA. We hope to continue with the offer so please watch out for further details in the next few weeks.

Association of London Markets

NABMA is delighted to welcome the Association of London Markets to the NABMA family. Jan Lloyd at Covent Garden will continue to serve as Chair of the Association and NABMA is now taking over the secretariat from the 1st April 2011. Thanks to the generous support of Town and Country Markets who will become a NABMA sponsor. We will be providing information to the Association and also profiling NABMA services and events. We hope that some of the market operators within the Association will be sufficiently interested to take up full membership of NABMA.

Government's Response on Street Trading and Pedlars

The long awaited Government Consultation on Pedlars and Street Trading was published in March. The Government’s proposals were a great disappointment to NABMA with the Government intending to give greater freedom to pedlars. The only concessions being offered by the Government relate to an up to date definition of a pedlar and the prospect of the number of pedlars in a town centre area being restricted. The Government’s attitude has been determined by the requirements of the European Services Directive and there is a telling statement indicating that if the Government had been minded to take forward further proposals the requirements of the Directive would have prevented such action. It remains to be seen what timetable the Government adopts to implement the proposals. Those local authorities who promoted private legislation to deal with the problem of pedlars will find that their efforts have been largely wasted.

European Services Directive

The Government has decided that retail sales are now embraced within the Directive so it is likely that the implications for markets will be more significant. Advice is being sought on the Government’s revised position.

Institute of Place Management

Have you joined up now? Don’t forget you can become an Associate Member simply by sending details to dan@placemanagement.org or if you want to be a full member you simply write to cathy@placemanagement.org giving details of your post, highest qualification and the market operator by whom you are employed.