TRADERS who operate out of Oswestry Indoor Market will be given business support with rent controls and how to bring customers back when it re-opens.

Oswestry Town Council has confirmed that traders will be allowed to return to the indoor hall from Wednesday, June 17, if they qualify under government guidelines.

Councillors gave their support to a report produced by David Clough and Arren Roberts from Oswestry Town Council, including a staged approach to paying rent and providing one-to-one business support.

Councillor Vince Hunt supported the campaign but insists the council must show what it has done to make the market safe.

He said: "I support the report and I won’t be against it. It’ll be about getting the 'PR' right – we need people to use the markets for it to be successful, as we are a market town.

"We need people to come along and for them to come along, we need to show people how we’ve made it safe."

However, Cllr Sandy Best, called for more clarity around certain businesses in the hall, and admitted fears of ensuring the town council is compliant with the guidelines.

She said: "It’s obvious not all traders will be compliant to start with e.g. hairdressers. They are not allowed to open so the hairdressers in the market can’t.

"I am more interested in making sure we are compliant because the penalties are pretty severe. We need to make sure there is someone there making sure, like in the supermarkets.

"There might be a lot of people who have lost jobs might want to start on the market to give them security to start a small business.

"What sort of encouragement are giving for that? The report is lacking something that takes us forward."

However, Mr Roberts moved to calm any fears councillors had.

"My thanks to Cllr Best for raising these issues," he said.

"We are working with British Markets and taking their guidance. We have officers on site at present and we’re monitoring it, but it's possibly fair to say that customer behaviour exceeds all things in place.

"The report says about potential new businesses. There is a lot of work to be done but that is in the report."

Meanwhile, Cllr Hunt also thanked Mr Roberts publicly for his work making delegated decisions throughout the pandemic.

He said: "He did a very good job in what must be unchartered territory for him."