East Riding of Yorkshire Council has appointed Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd as the contractor to deliver the £2.5 million Saturday Market maintenance scheme, in Beverley.
Due to commence early in January 2013, Galliford Try will work alongside council engineers to finalise the details of the scheme.
After being announced in August this year, the council has consulted widely in the community with Beverley Town Council and other stakeholder groups, including the Beverley Chamber of Trade, The Beverley Civic Society, the Disability Advisory and Monitoring Group, market traders and taxi operators, English Heritage and members of the public.
Councillor Stephen Parnaby OBE, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “We are grateful to all the groups and individuals who have responded during the public consultation.
“One of the most discussed aspects of the scheme was proposals to remove the existing cobble setts. Whilst there had been support for retaining the setts, there had also been a strong view, particularly from disabled users, that the setts should be removed.
“After further discussions during the public consultation, it has been agreed that some of the setts will be retained for reuse at the entrance of Old Waste, the ends of the parking areas in the centre of Saturday Market and an area off Ladygate.
“It has been clear that improvement works to Saturday Market have been required for some time and, as the most heavily used pedestrian area in the East Riding, it is important that these works are carried out.”
A key part of the requirement for contractors bidding for the work was that they would be able to keep the market trading each Saturday with minimal disruption and allow the programme of major events to continue with minimum disruption in Beverley town centre.
Richard Burton, Galliford Try’s construction manager, confirmed that the majority of the contractor’s project team would be from East Yorkshire and that they were expecting to employ local sub-contractors for removal of excavated material and ancillary works.
He said: “We are delighted to further extend our relationship with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and look forward to working closely with the client and community to bring this project to fruition.”
As well as the repaving work, the scheme will see a complete renewal of the street lighting and the electrical network that supplies the market traders and special events. Building on the success of the installation of uplighting to North Bar Within, the proposals will now include energy-efficient lighting of the historic Market Cross.
Once a start date for the work has been finalised a programme of consultation and information will be arranged to keep businesses, residents and other users informed as to what to expect while the work is taking place.
The council’s “consultation” with the public was a farce! When I wrote to ERYC with comments the officer in question replied saying they would not take unto consideration individual letters, as too many suggestions and comments complicate the matter! The only time they “consulted” the public/residents was on one market day. Apparently, by classing it as a resurfacing project rather than redevelopment, consultation does not need to be as expansive. Once again the council put on a show of consultation to make it look like they were listening, even though they knew what they were going to do regardless!
Yes, Mr Parnaby is telling fibs. The public ‘consultation’ was a total joke. There were lots of people angry about this waste of money, but of course he disregarded their opinions and said ‘it had the support of the majority’.
But apparently, we don’t have enough grit for the roads this winter because it’s not in the ERYC budget? Yeah….figures!