Chesterfield Borough Council announce plans to reopen markets
Chesterfield Borough Council has now finalised its plans to restart its open-air markets, in line with both Government and industry guidance.
Regular market traders will be invited to return to the town centre to trade on the town’s general market from Monday 1 June, with further markets scheduled for Friday 5 June and Saturday 6 June. No casual traders will be allowed to join the regular market traders at this stage.
Councillor Kate Sarvent, cabinet member for town centres and visitor economy, said: “Our priority is to ensure that Chesterfield town centre is as safe as possible for everyone, our staff, our market traders and the visiting public.
“We have conducted a specific review looking at how the council can help our outdoor market traders to start to return by introducing physical changes to the layout of the market to maintain safe social distancing and signage reminding people from different households to keep 2 metres apart and to regularly wash or gel their hands.”
“The council will not be restarting the Thursday’s popular flea market at this stage. We need to first learn the lessons from how next week’s general markets operate in terms of queuing systems, customer journeys and social distancing pinch points.”
“We are however committed to restarting the flea market as soon as possible and will continue to liaise with trader representatives about how this can be safely achieved.”
The council would expect returning regular market traders to be in place from 8am though many are likely to work reduced hours for a number of weeks.
Chesterfield Borough Council will also continue to support retailers selling essential goods to trade from the Market Hall. Access in and out of the Market Hall will however continue to be controlled to maintain safe social distancing within the premises.
The public toilets located in the Market Hall will re-open from Monday 1 June, with social distancing measures and extra cleaning processes in place; this may mean increased queues for the toilets.
Councillor Kate Sarvent continued: “As we move towards the phased re-opening of Chesterfield town centre, I would encourage residents to support our local traders on our general markets and at the Market Hall which will help us to restart our local economy.”
“Shopping local is important for a number of reasons including supporting our traders from a financial point of view and reducing the number of miles we are travelling to buy our essential products such as groceries, which has a positive impact on our environment.”
Chesterfield Borough Council is encouraging its shopworkers and residents to cycle or walk into the town centre, wherever possible.
The council had planned to lower car parking barriers and re-introduce car parking charges from Monday 1 June. These measures will now take effect from Wednesday 3 June and will include the reopening of the council’s two multi storey car parks at Saltergate and Beetwell Street, and two-barrier controlled surface car parks at Rose Hill and Soresby Street.
Residents are reminded to use their Resident’s Permit, which entitles them to park for free in most car parks before 10am and after 3pm Monday to Saturday and all day on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Find out more about this here.
Parking permits including pre-paid scratch cards are also available and significant cost reductions can be achieved through purchasing these in advance. Please make sure you properly display your permit when parking your car.
Funding generated from town centre car parking charges helps the council to cover the cost of several essential services, including CCTV, street cleaning and public toilets provision.
