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The popular Sunday market in Moxon Street |
Farmers’ market fans welcome ‘lifeline’
A THREATENED market in Marylebone, credited with transforming the area into one of the most fashionable postcodes in the capital, has been given a lifeline.
Planning chiefs have recommended it should stay put.
After a vigorous campaign from residents, stallholders and local councillors, the recommendation that the farmers market should remain in Moxon Street car park offers a glimmer of light in what many had written off as a foregone conclusion.
The revised planning brief for the site which has been earmarked for a new flagship adult education centre, urges any future development to accommodate the market.
It states: “The use of part of the Moxon Street site by the Marylebone Farmers’ Market would be acceptable and encouraged in planning terms as would the inclusion of open space to accommodate it.”
Currently the site is used as a public car park in the week with space for 100 vehicles, and a farmers’ market on Sundays.
Although the brief is not a binding commitment, campaigners have welcomed the development as a “step in the right direction” after months of uncertainty.
Gaby Higgs, chairwoman of Marylebone Society, said: “I think we can take a lot of positives from the brief but we are by no means out of the woods yet.
“It seems like they have listened to the local community and it heartening that Marylebone has pulled together for this. Keeping the market on the north part of the site and incorporating a public square were both met with approval which is encouraging. It is a step in the right direction.”
Mark Page, councillor for Marylebone High Street ward said: “I would have liked to have seen an insistence that the market remains but the brief goes as far as it goes which is encouraging.”
Westminster Adult Education Service plan to build the new education centre on the site with a grant from the Learning and Skills Council and money from the sell-off of two smaller centres in Little Venice and Pimlico. |
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