Free rent for traders after delay to redevelopment

Market traders will be offered free rent for two months amid delays to a multi-million-pound redevelopment scheme.

City of Wolverhampton Council has announced it will not charge Bilston's indoor and outdoor market traders rent from December 22 to February 14 as the improvement project stalls.

The £8m works to the 200-year-old market, which include a new steel framework, better access and enhanced stalls, are now not expected to be finished until June 2026 – eight months later than planned.

The Labour-run authority said the rent reduction would result in lost revenue totalling £118,000 which would be covered in the budget by using reserves.

The council has already cut rent by a quarter for more than 10 months to help the town's indoor and outdoor market stalls during the project.

It said some of the work had been slowed down after surveys, which could only be carried out once the stalls had moved, found "poor" ground conditions resulting in a re-design.

The council also agreed a further £2.5m for the new market which sees the total cost rise by more than a third from £6.4m to £8.9m.

However despite the rise in cost, several aspects of the works have been scrapped.

City of Wolverhampton Council approved its own planning application in November and made a number of changes to the improvements, which included the removal of a proposed 12-metre "beacon", plans for solar panels, as well as new signs and entrances.

Some pavements, thoroughfares and car parks will also be cleaned and repaired rather than resurfaced.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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