Riverside Market: Issues need to be addressed.

MEMBERS of the Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee have recommended that the Cabinet address a number of issues before making a decision on a new County Library.

It is proposed to turn the Haverfordwest Market into a county library but this has come under opposition from current traders.

The committee met on Tuesday (May 12), to hear the views of two of the traders in the market as well as those of a representative of the Pembrokeshire Business Initiative and the Chamber of Commerce.

Proposals were approved at a recent Cabinet meeting in April but they also recommended that the Economy committee should take a further look at the proposals.

Director of Development Stephen Jones again stressed that they were ‘not in the business of putting businesses out of business’ and added: “It has been three and a half years since the county library shut. It has been a lengthy period and that has had a damaging effect on the performance of the library service.”

Cllr Mike John said: “To get it in the town the centre will be very valuable.”

Cllr David Lloyd said: “I am very happy to hear what is going to be put in place and I am convinced that this is necessary. The best protection should be put in place. The centre of town is an obvious place for us to start, the location is outstanding and it is a lovely building. It should be used to the best glory of this town. It’s on a shopping street which needs regeneration and this will help enormously. This is an amazing town with a fabulous history and I would like to think that the Tourist Information Centre (TIC) would enhance that and it is going to be a force. I love this project but do look after the people who are going to be relocated.”

One of the traders, Tonia Williams, the owner of the café in the Riverside Market, told the committee: “The market has been open since 1982. Five businesses have been trading since the opening of the building and are to date, viable businesses providing livelihoods for the majority of people employed. At a meeting in January 2014, we were told that the Riverside Market was not financially viable. Library speculation started in 2015 and that has had a negative impact on the trading of the Riverside Market. Little or no consideration has been given to the market or its traders. I would like to emphasise there has been no guarantees, no support of relocation to market traders up to date.”

Tonia also stated that the building had been the subject of gross neglect of maintenance and that it should be considered.

Another trader, Adrian Williams, who runs the flower shop, said: “I am not against the idea of a library in the centre of town. I am sure as a cultural centre that it may well help the town, my feeling is that it is completely the wrong building to put it in. This seems to be the only element in a masterplan. Kicking off your masterplan by putting the future of 16 businesses in severe threat doesn’t seem to be a great way to go around economic regeneration for the town.”

The Director of Development then highlighted that the council would provide support for the traders but Tonia questioned him saying: “I don’t know what qualifies you to know what is best for our individual businesses. I don’t know where the guarantees are from.”

Cabinet Member Cllr Elywn Morse said: “There are a number of issues and I would like to see these explored and an agreement sought as soon as possible. A direct package has to be in place with the agreement of the traders for us to be comfortable for this to move forward.”

The council’s head of property Barry Cooke said that he would be meeting with the traders to discuss their concerns.

Cllr John Allen-Mirehouse said that the issue should be returned to Cabinet and that they take into account the views expressed by the committee and added: “We really must get on with it.”

Those views included the comments of the traders with regards to relocation, the costs of the plan and the masterplan for Haverfordwest.

Cllr Jonathan Nutting said: “I am not confident that the costs are accurate and I think this is biased towards the preferred option. What appears to be the cheapest option could turn out to be by far the most expensive option. We haven’t factored in the costs of having to relocate the traders. We are asking the traders to take a leap of faith and relocate in a highly uncertain future. We’re offering a two-year safety net to the traders but this is highly inadequate and we are prioritising the scheme that could take the longest to come to fruition.”

After a lengthy debate the recommendation was put to a vote with all councillors except Cllr Nutting against the proposal.