Campaigning at Bulwell Market

I spent yesterday morning campaigning in Bulwell Market in Nottingham North. The Conservatives are asking the City Council to reduce market stall rents during the recession. All the stall holders I spoke to were, of course, supportive. The market in Bulwell runs three days a week. If life gets difficult for the stallholders, they will look for markets with cheaper rents and they will be lost forever. This will not only effect the market, but will also reduce the foot fall though the shopping area and impact on the local shops. It is measures like this that will help Bulwell through the recession and beyond.

This isn't helped by the appalling treatment they have received from the City Council recently. They have had no power for months ever since a contractor cut through a power cable feeding the market and with no forecast about when power will be restored. So, this means the stallholders are left without any means to light and heat their stalls. On a day like yesterday, that meant they suffered; but without any means of light, they suffer on any winter's day.

The biggest surprise of the day was the hostility that the shoppers expressed towards the Labour Party. Many of the people I spoke to absolutely agreed with my own sentiment that Nottingham is a City with great potential which has been continually let down by Labour representation at every level.