Liverpool council called 'uncaring' over St John's Market closure

The market, which was founded in 1822, under went a £2.5m refurbishment in 2016

A Labour-run council, which shut a city's market because of unpaid rents, has been labelled "anti-business" by an opposition councillor.

Liberal Democrat group leader Carl Cashman labelled Liverpool City Council "uncaring" over its decision to shut St John's Market.

He has called for an extraordinary meeting of the local authority to address the issue.

Councillor Nick Small said action had to be taken over £1.7m unpaid rent.

Mr Cashman criticised the council for "turning up on a Sunday when the market is closed and changing the locks".

"This is people's livelihoods," he said.

"The Labour party in Liverpool are fundamentally uncaring and in this scenario anti-business," he said, adding the market traders had dealt with "botched refurbishment".

The entrance to St John's Market is now boarded up

The market, which was founded in 1822, under went a £2.5m refurbishment in 2016, which was described by traders at the time as "drab".

That led to former mayor Joe Anderson agreeing to waive traders' rent for a number of years.

The authority said it had attempted to recover more than £1.7m of unpaid rent and service charges from 43 tenancies which dated back to August 2020.

Legal letters were sent to tenants in October demanding market traders pay three years worth of rent and other arrears, which they said they could not afford to pay.

Mr Small, cabinet member for growth and economy, said the market costs the council £1m to subsidise each every year and the move to close the market was necessary to get best value for taxpayers.

"This administration wants to get best value in everything that the council does," he said.

"We have to do that as a city. We owe it to the residents of the city to do that and that's what we've done here. We've got best value for money for the taxpayer."