Council unveils £8.7m New Smithfield Market plan
MANCHESTER City Council is planning a new fish market at New Smithfield Market as part of an £8.7m revamp of the site.
The east Manchester market is the largest wholesale market in the North West but has seen no investment since it was built in 1974.
An earlier plan to invest around £20m was abandoned due to the local authority cuts that followed the financial crisis of 2008-09.
A report to the council’s executive said the market’s 600 jobs are under threat if no action is taken. The latest plan involves a £4.5m fish market, a £4m refurbishment of the wholesale produce market and £250,000 repairs to the Fresh Direct building.
There is also a plan to build an anaerobic energy centre, partly fuelled by market waste, that could generate enough power for 6,000 homes. The cost would be met by an unnamed private sector investor who is preparing a planning application.
The council’s costs are being covered by a mix of grant funding, borrowings, and cash from its capital budget. It is also raising around £870,000 from land sales including the Manchester Wholesale Flowers building that was bought in 2010 for around £700,000 as part of New East Manchester’s plans for the area.
In the report council officers said: “Tenants have highlighted that, ‘The current offer at NSM is considered to be constraining business competitiveness and as such it is considered that do nothing is not an option’. The business turnover has historically shown a profit but it is clear that the revenue is not being maximised.
“There are businesses that have left the wholesale market because of the condition of units. In order to ensure that a one-stop-shop model, whereby there is a range of commodities on offer at NSM, including fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and poultry is protected, there is a need to facilitate improvements and not lose businesses.”
