Video 2

An interview with Councillor Kieran Quinn, Cabinet Deputy for Economic Services

What’s the situation at the moment?

Currently the fire fighters are just damping down what’s left of the still some charred embers and clearly after that we need to get the building inspectors in to see what the actual state of the building is, how much of the heritage, the history that is contained within that building we can save. Because, as you know it’s a very historic building, 1861 was the first element of the market hall. Clearly we want to save as much of it as we possibly can and that work is going to start once the fire fighters let us on to the site.

So what’s the long term future for the market hall?

At the moment we have no plans for the long term future of the market hall. Other than to say there will be a future for the market hall. Clearly although it’s a very sad occasion, it has given us an opportunity to see how we can fit the heritage that’s contained within the market hall into perhaps a newly regenerated Ashton town centre, which includes a market hall and obviously an outdoor market. But that’s 2 to 3 years before it’s finalised. My priority at the moment is about getting the traders trading somewhere close to where this market hall is.

Right, well do you have an indication as to the timescales involved in providing an alternative site for the indoor market traders?

At the moment it’s difficult because clearly the commitment we’ve given to the traders is that, yes, as soon as we possibly can we would get a new market hall up and running. There are two sites that we’re looking at; both have potential but both also have issues and some difficulties that we have to overcome and I say that the quickest we can say would be 6 weeks, maybe 8 weeks; at the most I would say 3 months but obviously the timescales will be based on how successful we are at finding these answers and the commitment again I give is that we will get the new market hall up and running as quickly as we possibly can.

What help have you given the market traders so far?

Well at the moment it’s mainly counselling, talking to them, seeing obviously what we can do to help them, seeing what cover they had. All the sorts of questions that you know, yesterday was a day of shock, now today is a day of reflection, and what we’ve done is we’ve put aside some rooms in the Council Offices so that traders can come in and talk to people, give them a whole range of help and advice, but the most important thing I can do is get them trading again, get them working again and that’s my priority at the present moment in time. But any assistance we can give them, obviously we will give them.

How big a blow is this fire to Ashton?

In the short term it is a blow, yes, because tens of thousands of people come here every week. It’s a very vibrant, exciting market. Its got that wonderful mixture of the traditional service that you’d get at a market in a modern setting so clearly, you know, we want to see what impact it will have in the long term. I know I’m repeating myself, let’s get them up and working; lets get the outdoor market going. We hope to have the outdoor market up by the weekend, that’s the target we’ve set ourselves – Saturday, so that trading, normal trading, can resume. Once we know the state of the building; what can be saved, what needs to be demolished, then we will know more long term about the outdoor market. But, as I say in the short term, yes, it’s going to have an impact on the town centre of Ashton. But the spirit of Ashton; you know, the people of Ashton, they’re rallying round already, they want to know what they can do to help. What they can do to help is to come into Ashton and shop.