Tuesday December 15, 2009

Dear colleague,

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is always one of the most busy times for market managers. We have some wonderful Christmas Markets throughout the country and many of these markets bring additional benefits to town centres. This has been a challenging year for all retailers and it is hoped the Christmas period will prove to be a real successful time for markets everywhere. December has also been a significant month because it has seen the setting up of the Government’s Working Party on Retail Markets. The first meeting was held on the 1st December and details are given elsewhere in this newsletter of the proposed work programme for the next twelve months. The week before saw the launch of Markets 21. A packed meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Markets Group saw Dr. Brian Iddon, M.P. introduce Rosie Winterton, CLG Minister, who welcome the markets research and indicated her delight at becoming Markets Champion. Krys Zasada spoke briefly about Markets 21 and the contribution it will make supporting the work of the Government’s new Working Party. All NABMA members should now have received a hard copy of Markets 21. A PDF copy of Markets 21 can be downloaded from the NABMA website. Please ensure that you report to your Council/Cabinet on Markets 21 and also the creation of the Government’s Working Party on Markets.

European Services Directive

The deadline for the implementation of the Directive gets nearer. December 28th is only a short time away. It appears that many NABMA members have now made arrangements for on-line applications for market stalls, although there is little evidence that members are equipped to deal with on-line payments. The real contentious issue relates to the impact of the Directive on market rights. NABMA has taken Counsel’s Opinion on this issue and, following the initial view of BIS, a further opinion from Counsel has been sought. All NABMA members will have received details of Counsel’s advice and a copy can be obtained from the NABMA Office. It is vital that this advice is shared with Legal Officers and the Office charged with overseeing the arrangements for the implementation of the Directive within each member authority. It is clear that agreement on the Directive will not happen by the 28th December. NABMA will continue to seek clarification of the Directive and advise members of the potential ramifications. Please make sure that you have a copy of the recent advice provided by NABMA.

Market of the Year

Hopefully you will be putting the final touches to your application for Market of the Year. Awards will be presented at NABMA’s “Building Better Markets” at Birmingham on the 28th January. Please make sure that you enter your markets in one or more of the competitions various categories. Also get your traders, customers and supporters to vote on-line for Britain’s Favourite Market. You can do this via the NABMA website. Let’s make Market of the Year 2009 the best competition yet.

Government Working Party on Retail Markets

The first meeting of the Working Party took place on the 1st December. Rosie Winterton, CLG Minister, welcomed everyone and stressed her support for this Government initiative. She said she was proud to be Markets Champion.
It is likely that the Working Group will meet 3 / 4 times over the next twelve months but the bulk of the work will be done in ad hoc project groups that will deal with specific issues. At the first meeting, three potential project groups were identified covering good practice, business start ups and food/health.
Over the next few weeks there will be further discussions on the format and scope of these project groups and this will be worked out before the next meeting of the main Working Party which will probably take place in March.
It is likely that NABMA will be looking for volunteers to serve on the project groups to bring forward best practice that can be shared nationally.

Building Better Markets

Please support NABMA’s One Day Conference at Birmingham on the 28th January. Rosie Winterton, CLG Minister, will be a headline speaker but we will be covering a range of issues including the European Service Directive, Markets 21, Make Your Mark, Good Practice Models from NABMA and, of course, presentation of Market of the Year Awards by Thomasina Miers. There is a discount for bookings up to the 31st December so please make sure you benefit from this “Early Bird” arrangement. It is vital that we have good support when we have the Minister with us to talk about her support for the markets industry.