London’s street and covered markets

The London Assembly Economy Committee has written to the Mayor urging him to take action to support London’s street and covered markets.

Street markets are an important part of the community for many Londoners, demonstrated through campaigns to save sites across the city in recent years.

The Committee launched an investigation to examine the challenges and opportunities facing London’s street markets and the support they need from national, regional, and local government.

As part of the investigation, Assembly Members met with traders at Brixton Market and heard of the setbacks traders have experienced during the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

The Economy Committee has today published a letter to the Mayor with six recommendations, including:

• The London Markets Board should set out an action plan to deliver its priorities, with a clear set of objectives and a delivery timeline for the remainder of the Mayoral term. This action plan should be shared with the Economy Committee.
• It is widely acknowledged that the legislation governing London’s street markets needs updating. The London Markets Board should therefore work with boroughs to review the legislation, with the aim of agreeing a collective position and lobbying the Government for a change in the legislation.
• The Mayor and the London Markets Board should ensure that the guidance document to help the sector understand the existing legislation that governs London’s street markets is produced as a matter of urgency.
• The Mayor should explore options for updating the mapping tool for London’s markets to ensure it contains up-to-date data on the number and location of markets in London, and should inform the Committee of the action he will take.
• The Mayor should keep the Committee updated on the progress of the Tomorrow’s Market 2.0 programme. This should include an evaluation of the programme’s impact and progress against the following objectives: to support market teams engaged in economic recovery planning; to create diversified markets; and to explore ways to innovate market management and operation.