Last updated 22:33, Saturday, 03 May 2008

BUILDERS are working overtime to make sure Cockermouth’s new £1.2million market place is ready for the town’s Georgian Fair, which starts tonight.

Workers have increased their hours and more men have been brought in to help finish the job.

The revamped Market Place is set to open today, just in time for the fair. Work began in January,

But its official opening will not be until June, when artwork that will be its centrepiece is ready.

Sue Hannah, secretary of Cockermouth Partnership said: “We are keen to get the job done so the builders working there now have increased their working hours to 12 hours a day and there are more men working to make sure it is ready in time.”

John Porter, of Cockermouth Partnership, said: “This weekend will be the first time the space has been opened to the public and we are excited about that.

“We have not finished the work as some of the public art has not been completed yet, and it will be early June when we roll out the red carpet for the grand opening.

“We are aware of all the controversy that has surrounded the project and that was always going to happen.

“Projects like this always have a lot of negativity but it has to be like this before people realise what a great asset the new Market Place will be.

“What you will find is that property prices will go up and Cockermouth Market Place will be the best place in Cumbria.”

Mr Porter’s view was backed by one trader, who agreed he had lost custom but hoped trade would now pick up.

Michael Green, owner of Market Place Books, said: “Market Place will be fantastic when it opens but it really has taken too long to complete.”

Some traders claim they have lost business due to the roads and pavements being closed.

John Carlin, owner of the Allerdale Court Hotel, said: “It has been a disgracefully managed project.

“The new Market Place has been managed only for the benefit of the Georgian Society and not for the local traders.

“This week there has been double the amount of people working on the site, making sure the roads will be open for the Georgian Fair. But for months they have slowly pottered about. Why didn’t they do this from the start?

“If they did then maybe they would have finished by the original finishing date of March 31.

“I have lost an awful lot of business because the roads and pavements have been closed which has been unnecessary.

“It has been a disaster for us and with £1.2million being spent on it, it needs to look nice.”

Steve Hamilton, joint manager of the Fruit Market, said: “I have lost a lot of business through this project taking so long to complete.

“It is a total waste of money and the people in charge have done nothing to get shoppers back into the town.

“Putting in a new pavement and a new road will not bring people into the town. If anything they have done more to drive people away from Cockermouth.”

Cockermouth councillor Alan Smith, who resigned from Cockermouth Partnership in December over the Market Place, said: “They have decimated the Market Place and it has had an effect on businesses. Roads have been closed for four months which is ridiculous. Hopefully business will start to pick up once the roads are opened again.

“I also hope our new Market Place will be everything that the planners have said it will be, but the jury is out.”