Decision details

A request has been made by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council for permission to hold an artisan market in Biddulph on the first Friday of the month. The permission requested would be under the Congleton Market Charter.

The Calendar of Charter Rolls date 1257 to 1300 shows that a Charter to hold a market on a Saturday in Congleton was granted to the Earl of Lincoln. Cheshire East Borough Council, as the administrative authority for the area, now have the right to the Charter rights. This means that anyone who wants to set up a market within 6 2/3rds miles of Congleton town would need to seek the council’s permission. This is likely to relate only to holding a market on Saturdays, but this is not certain.

In August 2006, Congleton Borough Council granted permission to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to hold a market in Biddulph on Fridays. Several markets were held but it did not become established. Staffordshire Moorlands District Council are again seeking permission to recommence an artisan market on the first Friday of each month.

Citi Markets, which holds a market in Congleton town centre on Tuesdays and Saturdays, has been approached. This company hold the market on Council property. They have no objection to a market being held in Biddulph on a Friday, but asked for a review after one or two years. The Town Council, ward councillors and the Town Centre Manager, have also been approached, with no objections being made.

That permission be given under the Council’s Congleton Market Charter for Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to hold a market in the town of Biddulph on the first Friday of each month for a period of five years, from 1 August 2013 and that this permission be reviewed at the end of that period.