Health Centre for Market Site
Sophie Edwards, Echo, 26 February 2010 link to Echo article

Traders may face a move to make way for £16m plan
WICKFORD market faces closure and could be reborn on the High Street.
   A plan is materialising which includes building the town's new £16.8million health centre on the council-owned market site.
   It has not been decided where the market will go, but the High Street has emerged as an early favourite.
   Adrian Rondeau, of Adrian's Records in High Street, said: "I think it would be good if it was in the High Street. That would bring more of a buzz to the town centre."

• Market site could be sold off in new health centre deal
• Move follows collapse of town plan
• Council poised to sell off one acre plot

WICKFORD market could be sold and moved to make way for a new £16.8million-health centre.
Basildon Council has unveiled plans to sell off the council-owned site, which has been home to the market for more than 30 years.
   It hopes the primary care trust will build a new health centre on the land, which is just over an acre in size.
   At th£ same time councillors want to buy a neighbouring piece of land, of around the same size also in Market Road, where the existing health centre is.
   The council will then lease the centre back to the health bosses, so patients have somewhere to go while they wait for the new facilities to be built.
   It is not clear where the market will go although the High Street seems the prefered option.
   The move was announced after the Echo revealed yesterday how the council's £100million plan to rebuild Wickford town centre had been abandoned until further notice because the bidder pulled out.
   However Stephen Horgan, councillor in charge of regeneration, stressed: "The number one issue in Wickford is healthcare and we'll do anything we can to facilitate the provision of better healthcare in the town.
   "We need to move quickly so it can be sorted as soon as possible."
   Council leader Tony Ball said the move showed, despite the recent setback, the council was still committed to regenerating the town.
   He said: "We've closed one chapter of the regeneration of Wickford, and hopefully with this opportunity another chapter is opening."
   During the special cabinet meeting which was called to discuss the plan, Mr Ball explained haste was needed as the PCT only has until April 1 to get the health centre project moving.
   If it doesn't sign contracts with contractors by then, it will lose the chance to bid for Government funding.
   He also assured councillors a new home would be found for the market, and every effort would be made to make sure it was not forced to close for any length of time.
   According to Wickford councillor Malcolm Buckley, a move would benefit market traders and shoppers.
   He said: "At the moment the market is tucked away and hidden. If you didn't know it was there you could go to the High Street and never find it."
   However, Lib Dem councillor Ben Williams accused the Tory administration of rushing through the plan to save face after the collapse of the Wickford Master plan.
   He said: "I am not convinced by this scramble to rescue something. That's how it appears. I just wish we'd taken a few more days on this."

Traders' concerns
TRADERS are concerned for the future of Wickford market - but some feel moving it could be a good thing.
   Adrian Rondeau, of Adrian's Records, in High Street, said: "I'm happy for them to move the market. It would be beneficial if it was more part of the town centre. Most people walk past now, but it used to be a thriving area."
   He added there were concerns the old market could close before the new one opens, leaving traders in limbo.
   Joanne Cooper, owner of Lipleys, in the Ladygate Centre, Wickford, said: "The market is dead these days. Walk down there on a Saturday you will see."
   Malcolm Buckley, Tory councillor for Wickford Castledon, said traders would not be left in limbo and the council would look carefully at where the new market would be built.