Traders at Coventry Wholesale Market are hoping to secure their future at the Barras Heath site after the city council urged them to present their plans for the future.

Coventry City Council has set a September 2000 deadline for the market to close due to degeneration of the building, and has now given traders until this August to put forward any redevelopment propositions.

Martin Clifford, chairman of Coventry Wholesale Market Tenants’ Association believes that the council is losing interest in the issue.

He said:

"I don’t really think they have ever really taken any interest in us, that is why the building has got into the state it is in.

"We have now got together with a local builder, Danny Lynch Construction, and have put together some plans for a redevelopment of the market on its existing site.

"The whole thing will cost around £1 million and we are looking into grants and other ways to fund that but there will be a small shortfall and we are hoping that the council will make that up."

The issue has now been discussed by Coventry City Council’s Economic Regeneration Policy Team, which is waiting for the traders to reveal the details of their proposal.

Council spokesman Martin Bullock said:

"All I really did at this last meeting was update the team on the issue - which was to say that we have not yet received any proposals from the traders.

"We really want to bring this issue to a conclusion so we are now going to ask the traders to present any plans by August.

"I know they have got something in the pipeline with Danny Lynch so it is just a question of seeing what that is and whether it is viable."

However, Bullock has a different view of what is to be done about any shortfall in the funding.

He said:

"I think the traders will have to see if they can raise the money themselves and I believe that is something that they have already looked into."