Livestock market build will go ahead but local firms must benefit says council

Herefordshire Council today (1 October 2009) gave the go ahead for the construction of the city’s new £7.1 million livestock market. But the cabinet stressed that it wanted the contractor for the project - Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd – to make sure local firms got the chance to win some of the work.

The cabinet had deferred its decision on the market from last week. This was so that it could consider the implications of an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) fine on Willmott Dixon, which was one of 103 construction firms implicated in the practice of putting in a bid at a high price to avoid winning a contract. The practice was endemic in the industry several years ago and involved thousands of companies. Any construction project was therefore likely to be undertaken by one of the firms implicated by the OFT.

Cabinet members were assured by legal advice and guidance from the OFT. They heard that Willmott Dixon should not be excluded from the procurement process, and that the route taken by the council was the most timely and cost effective. The design and build contract will be subject to ‘open book’ accounting, will deliver value for money and any overspend will be covered by the contractor in full.

Councillors stressed that they wanted to see Willmott Dixon make every effort to ensure that local firms would be involved in the building of the livestock market. The project, they agreed, was essential to safeguard Herefordshire’s world-famous farming heritage for the long term, and its construction should also help the local economy in the short term.

Willmott Dixon has an approved list of Herefordshire-based businesses, which will have the opportunity to tender and local labour and skills will be used where possible. Building work could start soon after Christmas on the 7,250-square-metre covered market, on a site along the Roman Road to the north west of Hereford. The new market should be completed before the end of next year.

After ten years of public consultation, the new market cannot come soon enough for county farmers. Displays of the designs for the new market have been put up at the existing and dilapidated market site near the centre of Hereford and have received a positive response

Colwall livestock farmer John Bishop said: “The farming industry welcomes the investment in a new market at the new site. It is essential in terms of underpinning the market for livestock and provides us with an alternative to dealing with the big supermarkets, which want only to drive down prices. The market also gives us a chance to buy breeding stock or replacement animals to keep us in business, and not least, the livestock market provides an important social function for farmers whose lifestyle can often be isolated”.

Despite the economic slowdown, the current livestock market is experiencing its best trading for over ten years. Its move out from its dilapidated site in the city will remove an eyesore that blights one of the most important gateways into Hereford. Also traffic congestion on market days will be cut and the land freed up to build the new retail and leisure quarter, with a new multiplex cinema, department stores, designer shops and family restaurants and cafes that will link with the existing historic city core.

Herefordshire is traditionally a prime livestock area and its farming heritage includes the world famous Hereford cattle breed. Livestock farming supports 25 per cent of the country’s landscape and agriculture makes up 7 per cent of the local economy, as well as providing attractive pasture and a rural way of life that also supports a £400 million a year tourism industry.

The new market will contain a sheep ring and cattle ring, with loading docks, over 300 car or car and trailer parking spaces, an additional 44 articulated or trailer lorry parking and nine lorry wash stations. There will be offices, a café, welfare areas and toilets, with landscaped areas of decorative native trees, a wildflower meadow and wildlife conservation area. The new site is away from main settlements but has good transport links from around the county.

The design of the market has been done in consultation with the National Farmers Union and Hereford Markets Auctioneers who are the main users of the development.

Herefordshire Council says an important part of its vision for the city and the county is to restore and promote Hereford’s iconic Buttermarket, which, among other goods, will feature locally produced food and drink. The council is also promoting farmers’ markets and is driving a campaign to put more local produce on menus and dinner plates across Herefordshire. The annual food festival in October will also reinforce the council’s view that the county’s future lies in safeguarding its farming heritage.