Public consultation opened regarding future of market square but council fail to respond to Fitzy's petition which has 9,000 signatures

A new public consultation has opened for residents to have their say on what events and features should be held at Northampton's Market Square following its redevelopment.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has identified Commercial Street car park, alongside the Carlsberg Roundabout, as their preferred site for the market once an £8.4million revamp of the Market Square gets under way in August.

Councillors insist the move will enable the whole market to be kept together.

The council said a key part of the project is to help create a large public space which can be used for a variety of purposes, and that it would like to hear what people want to see there.

It could be anything from musical or theatrical events to big screens for major sports fixtures, plus individual ideas, a council spokesman said.

The council would also like to hear what features, in addition to the existing market stalls, would bring visitors into the town centre, such as specialist markets and wide-ranging leisure activities.

However, veteran market trader Fitzy, who has worked on the stalls for 58 years, has managed to get 9,000 “angry” people to sign a petition against the council's plans to relocate the stalls.

Fitzy slammed the council's initial consultation which asked 1,000 people where they would like to see the market relocated to.

This newspaper put Fitzy's petition to the council, asking: will WNC listen to the 9,000 people who have signed Fitzy's petition? If not, why not?

WNC failed to directly respond to this question.

Instead, WNC issued the following comment.

Councillor Lizzy Bowen, from WNC, said: “As part of our wider strategy for Northampton town centre, we’re going to deliver an amazing events space in Market Square.

“It’s a key civic space and one of the historic locations we’ve highlighted in our City Status bid, as it is the second largest market square in the country and has stood since 1235.

“We already have some great ideas about what we can do with it, including some of the hugely popular events we already host like Diwali and the Christmas lights switch-on.

“The way people use town centres has changed drastically, they’re no longer primarily about retail, people now want to experience fantastic leisure and cultural events too.

“Many of you responded to our previous consultation on the future of Market Square, which resulted in our outline plans.

“Now, we want to hear some of the fantastic ideas you have, as this is your Market Square and should host the kinds of things you want to see here.”

The survey opens today (Thursday, March 31) and will run until the end of April, and council representatives will be in the town centre with a street survey from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 April. The survey can be viewed here.

There will also be a display at the Grosvenor Shopping centre from April 7 to May 4 outlining the latest plans for how Market Square look once redevelopment completes in 2024.