Deputy council leader defended over resignation call after new market delay

The position of deputy council leader Jamie Pritchard has been robustly defended following a call for his resignation over the delayed opening of Caerphilly town’s new market.

Councillor Lindsay Whittle, the leader of the opposition Plaid Cymru group on Caerphilly County Borough Council, said Cllr Pritchard should consider his position after the opening of Ffos Caerffili was postponed for a fourth time.

Ffos Caerffili had been due to open on Friday March 15, but recent rain holding up building work has been blamed for the latest setback.

The £4.65 million flagship development, off Cardiff Road, is now set to have a soft opening in early April.

It had originally been scheduled to open in September last year. It was then pushed back to November, then January, then March.

Announcing the delay just two days before the planned opening, Cllr Pritchard said it was “disappointing news for the whole community”.

He said: “The colourful container-style market will be a vibrant new focal point for the town and the contractors are working hard to get the scheme completed as quickly as possible alongside the market operators and our local traders.”

Cllr Whittle said the latest delay in opening the container-style market, which will have space for 28 traders, had made the council a “laughing stock” and said it was an example “of local government incompetence at the highest level”.

He said: “They’ve messed up big time and really I wouldn’t trust this Labour administration to organise a party in a brewery – something would be bound to go wrong.

“Ffos Caerffili has been the flagship development for this council and they just can’t get it right, delay after delay after delay. Councillor Pritchard really needs to consider his position on the cabinet or perhaps the council leader should put him out of his agony.”

He also expressed concern over the lack of public toilets as those at Coffi Vista will be closing before the market’s opening.

Labour’s council leader Sean Morgan robustly defended his deputy and said the delay was an issue of safety and accessibility.

He said: “I have the greatest of confidence in Jamie. I don’t think the people of Caerphilly County Borough could wish for a better, more enthusiastic, and optimistic person to be heading up the regeneration strategy.

“The decision [to delay] was very difficult. It was taken on the day it was announced and the reason was because we could not be fully satisfied that all the health and safety issues and accessibility issues could be overcome.

“Because of the rain we could not lay certain surfaces. If you haven’t got the correct surface down, it wouldn’t come up to health and safety requirements.”

Cllr Morgan also said some traders had been struggling to get their premises fitted out as well and the decision was taken to delay.

Caerphilly 2035

Ffos Caerffili is one of a number of projects forming part of the council’s Caerphilly 2035 regeneration project.

Funding for the market is split between the council (£1.25 million), the Welsh Government (£2.69m) and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (£700,000).