East London is the “preferred location” for a new combined Smithfield and Billingsgate market with a deal hoping to be struck within the next couple of months.
By Ben Lynch
East London is the “preferred location” for a new combined Smithfield and Billingsgate market with a deal hoping to be struck within the next couple of months.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands traders are hoping to move to a single location and that a potential new site in the Albert Dock area was visited last week.
The LDRS has also been informed that while the City of London Corporation is providing support the funding for a relocation will either come from the traders or a private developer.
A spokesperson for the Corporation said they remain “fully committed” to supporting traders and that “no final decision has been made regarding the future site”.
The LDRS revealed last November that the plan to move Smithfield and Billingsgate, and later New Spitalfields, markets to a new state-of-the-art facility in Dagenham had been paused due to ballooning costs.
The LDRS further reported how Corporation members were recommended to approve the City withdrawing from running Smithfield and Billingsgate markets altogether, with the decision rubber-stamped at a Court of Common Council meeting on November 26.
Following the meeting the Corporation deposited a Private Bill with Parliament to officially withdraw from the sites.
Approval will be required by Parliament before the decision can be finalised.
The Bill has passed its first and second readings in the House of Commons, with a date for the Committee stage yet to be announced.
A majority of Smithfield traders have said they wish to find a new site within the M25, and the Corporation has been supporting attempts to identify suitable locations for both markets.
If the Bill is approved by Parliament Smithfield’s current base will be used to house new cultural and commercial offerings including the new London Museum, on which work has begun.
Billingsgate, which is in Poplar by Canary Wharf having moved out of the City in the early 1980s, meanwhile is earmarked to deliver thousands of homes.
The Corporation had already spent £308 million purchasing and remediating the site in Dagenham prior to the decision to cancel the move.
The LDRS previously reported the sum to be paid to the traders in compensation was understood to exceed £300m, which was still far below the projected spend if the relocation had progressed.
Since then there has been very little on where a potential new site may be, other than the intention to secure something within the M25.
The LDRS can now reveal that the “preferred location” is in East London, with more than one site being looked at.
An individual with knowledge of the situation told the LDRS the Corporation is wanting to move ahead as quickly as possible and to have something secured within the next couple of months.
They added Smithfield and Billingsgate are hoping to be co-located, and that while the Corporation is supporting their efforts, the move will either be funded by the traders or a private developer.
It is believed New Spitalfields will remain in Leyton.
The LDRS separately understands that a potential site was visited in the Albert Dock area last week, though does not know the exact location nor whether it is considered the preferred option.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said: “We remain fully committed to supporting the market traders to relocate their businesses. Discussions and negotiations are ongoing, and no final decision has been made regarding the future site. Certain details remain commercially sensitive at this stage.”
The LDRS recently reported how the Dagenham site initially earmarked for the new markets facility is to be put to commercial and industrial use.
A spokesperson said the City is working with Barking and Dagenham Council and other stakeholders “to ensure the site supports high-quality jobs and economic activity for local people, whilst also supporting the UK economy”.
