Fitzy hits back at councillor who rejected his 16,000-signature 'Save Northampton Market' petition

A veteran trader has criticised a councillor who told him his 16,000-strong petition to 'Save the Market' was missing another 209,000 signatures.

Eamonn 'Fitzy' Fitzpatrick, who has worked on the Market Square for 60 years, submitted a copy of his paperback 16,000 signature 'Save the Market' petition to a full council meeting at the end of September.

The petition was sparked after the Conservative-run West Northamptonshire Council revealed plans to temporarily move traders to Commercial Street car park for two years while it refurbishes the Market Square as part of an £8.4 million project.

However, Tory councillor Daniel Lister, in charge of the Market Square plans, rebuffed Fitzy's efforts, telling the full council meeting: “There are 209,000 other residents in the town who have not signed it and don't agree”.

Due to the nature of the meeting, Fitzy was unable to respond. However, the market trader submitted his response to Chronicle and Echo in the days following the meeting.

Fitzy said: "He was of course being disingenuous.

"I have personally spoken with many of those 16,000 people who have signed my petition and they have given me their opinions of this council's attempts to move the market to a dead-end and ultimately destroy it.

"I would like to ask Councillor Lister how many of his 209,000 residents he has spoken to, to know whether they agreed to moving the market or not. I suspect he has not spoken to many.”

Fitzy added that there have been several attempts to regenerate the market in the past but they have only led to it becoming smaller in size.

"What sort of regeneration is this? Or is regeneration doublespeak for degeneration," he said.

Councillor Daniel Lister explained his point of view on Facebook following backlash from Chron and Echo readers.

He wrote: "Fitzy himself acknowledged that the market needed to change and wrote a very damning article about the market just before these plans were released.

"The market regeneration is the starting point for the rest of the town. It has been in decline for some time and a fully refurbished thriving market is what will turn the corner on it."

The councillor said he does not “want to see the market killed off” and will do “everything in his power to stop it from happening”.

Councillor Lister added: "I appreciate everyone that goes into town and uses our shops but the old model of town centres and high streets are gone.

"Every brand that leaves Northampton is another reason for people to not visit. I am sure none of you will want to see our town decline any further. This should be celebrated as a new renaissance for us, not a reason to object."

Northampton Labour Group leader Wendy Randall said the issue with the market is anti-social behaviour.

She said: "You can build a nice area but if you don’t sort out the issues you still won’t get people coming into the Market Square."