Nabma, the Voice of Local Authority Markets - July 2013 News

Love Your Local Market 2013 was the biggest market event ever seen in the UK. Congratulations to everyone who took part and supported this wonderful campaign. We estimate that around 700 markets took part and approximately 2800 people tried their hand at market trading for the first time. Currently we are gathering together news stories, pictures and videos from the campaign so that by the time we get to Nabma’s Annual Conference at Torquay, between 22nd and 24th September, it is hoped that we will be able to present a wonderful display of the highlights from LYLM 2013. We have already announced that LYLM Market 2014 is to run between the 14th and 28th May 2014 and in order to start planning next year’s campaign now, we are hoping to keep a LYLM team in place between now and next May. This is going to stretch Nabma’s resources and we will be looking for further financial support to ensure we maintain the current momentum. One of the main reasons we want to keep the campaign alive is that preliminary results from LYLM 2013 suggest that social media was largely responsible for attracting a wider audience. Ellie Gill, LYLM Manager, and Beth Ward, Social Media Manager, both worked hard at social media engagement and deserve many thanks for what they achieved.

Next year might see a greater emphasis on youth, but we are still thinking about the format of LYLM 2014, so any ideas would be very welcome. We will be announcing the details of the campaign at the Nabma Conference. If you have any thoughts to offer please contact me at nabma@nabma.com

In a further attempt to build on the recommendations of the Mary Portas Report, the government has established a Future High Street Forum under the chairmanship of DCLG Minister, Mark Prisk. I have been invited to serve on the Forum and so far we have held two meetings which have produced a number of important discussions. The latest meeting focussed on business rates, with Brandon Lewis, DCLG Minister, interested in hearing views of people on how we might help the High Street. A large number of Market Halls have seen rating revaluations in recent years with market stalls being separately rated. This has led to traders having to meet increased charges resulting from the impact of the revaluations. Nabma successfully argued for traders to enjoy a measure of rate relief, which is still being enjoyed but there is no long term guarantee that this relief will continue. At the recent Forum meeting it was clear that there is no ready made solution to this issue, but I argued that it would assist market traders if there was a greater guarantee on the provision of the rate relief and it would also assist the High Street generally if the current limit could be increased, giving more traders the benefit of relief from business rates. In the last issue I commented on the requirements for registering market charters. It appears that only a handful of charters have so far been registered, which raises the question of whether people are aware of the issue, or are aware and intend to do nothing. Doing nothing is not really a valid option because lack of registration might have implications for market rights policies. Nabma has been in discussions with the Land Registry and issued an advisory note about what action should be taken on registration, so if anyone wishes to have advice on this important issue please contact me at nabma@nabma.com

Finally, can I invite anyone interested in markets to join us at Torquay in September for Nabma’s Annual Conference. This is the premier market conference for the markets industry and we welcome anyone with an interest in our wonderful industry. The theme of this year’s conference is Markets Together and we will have a very full programme of presentations and lots of social interaction and networking. Full details can be found on the Nabma website at www.nabma.com You will be very welcome.

Graham Wilson OBE
Chief Executive,
Nabma

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