Feature: Brighton Open Market

Traders at Brighton Open Market in London Road told workmen poles for a new canopy were too high the first day they were put up.

Their concerns were dismissed and work continued. Before the canopy was finished, Dave Street, owner of the market cafe for 22 years, started building his own which cost £2,000. Several other traders followed.

He said: "We told them it was too high but they didn't take any notice of us. If I hadn't have built my canopy, people would have ended up with water dripping on their beans on toast and I would have closed down."

The canopy has provided little protection for traders and shoppers during the past bad winter. China has been broken because of strong winds and clothes, fresh produce and electrical goods have been ruined by rain and snow.

Mary Mears, chairman of the Open Market Traders Association, whose family has had a fruit and veg stall for 50 years, said the cost of loss of trade after shoppers were driven away by the weather was impossible to gauge.

She said: "People have been driven away because it was so bad shopping here during the winter. One day recently most of my stall was covered in snow."

In November last year, 17 months after funding for the £125,000 canopy was approved, Brighton and Hove City Council appointed a working party to investigate the complaints.

After detailed investigations it concluded the canopy is not fit for its intended purpose.

It recommended £100,000 should be spent on building another structure of a similar design below the canopy and traders should get compensation.

Tory opposition leader Geoffrey Theobald, who called for the investigation, said he was pleased with the report but now wants to know who was responsible for letting the project carry on.

He said: "It shows the failings of the council.

"I expect an apology to the traders and the council to admit its mistakes.

"We need to first put this right and then look at the way in which the council operates in dealing with these sorts of matters. There needs to be a complete shake-up."

On Thursday, David Pike, managing director of Clyde Canvas, denied responsibility. His Bristol-based company put up all the overhanging canopies on the Millennium Dome.

He said: "The job was the bane of our life. Our job was to build the design we were given, which we did."

The project, which was given funding in June 1999 following a survey of customer opinion about the market when Steve Bassam was leader of the council, was beset with hitches.

As the then head of the policy and resources committee, he approved spending capital money on the canopy.

Lord Bassam, now a Home Office minister who became a peer in 1997, said: "It was my desire as council leader to see the market improved.

"The fitting of an attractive- looking canopy giving greater protection to traders and customers was part of an action plan to improve it."

He left the local authority - and the project - behind a month later to become part of the Government. Meanwhile, council architects were still discussing ideas with the traders.

He said: "When I was council leader every area of the council had a particular person accountable for that area of activity. Councillors and officers have a legal responsibility to ensure public money is well spent."

Mr Pike said they worked on the canopy with drawings taken from the council's design.

He said: "Because of the design we ended up having to put these horrible valances up at either end of the market. We went to adjudication and have now been paid.

"We had a build-only contract. The design was given to us."

The council said adjudication, held by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors at the end of last year, resulted in it being let off the full payment and paying a lesser amount than originally agreed.

A council spokeswoman said: "The council used all the contract mechanisms that they could to protect the council's interest and affect the appropriate financial penalties."

Initial drawings of a tent-style canopy were rejected by council architects because guy ropes holding it to the ground could be hazardous for pedestrians. A cantilever approach was adopted instead with the canopy tilting upwards.

Work was divided into two separate contracts with PH Beck demolishing the existing canopy and working on the foundations and Clyde Canvas making and fitting the new one.

Clyde Canvas started and then stopped work on the same day in April last year because of a lack of steel.

Work was halted another three times during the following three weeks and PH Beck had to be brought back on site to do more work on the foundations.

Councillor Pat Drake, who chaired the working party, said: "There are things which we have discovered which we wouldn't want done next time.

"We have concentrated on getting things right for the traders and improving their relations with the council.

"There are lessons to be learnt."

She and her colleagues are now looking at the way the building contract was managed and the need for more investment in the market.

Their report will be discussed tomorrow.

The property services department will have a chance to reply to its contents.