ANGRY traders have delivered a defiant "we shall not be moved" message to bosses behind the planned £150 million redevelopment of Bury's Mill Gate centre.

They are opposed to plans to move the popular outdoor market to a new site -- a key element of the huge revamp.

Around 200 outdoor stallholders unanimously gave the thumbs down to the blueprint at a packed meeting of the Bury Market Traders' Association.

Against

They also claim land earmarked for the switch would not be at the hub of the new-look town centre.

Sunday's meeting in Bury was addressed by Mill Gate manager Colin Nichol and representatives from the shopping centre's co-owners, Westfield, who are expected to lodge their plans with Bury Council in December.

The multi-million pound redevelopment proposals embrace a major extension to Mill Gate, 60 new shops, department store, multiplex cinema, 800-seat food court and a new transport interchange.

Under the plans, the outdoor and indoor markets together with the meat and fish hall would transfer to what Westfield label an "improved location" next to the Interchange near Kay Gardens.

Company bosses insist that the markets would retain all their existing stalls and attractions and have given a guarantee of continuity to ensure trading continues right up until the proposed move. But outdoor traders are against the transfer.

Traders' Association chairman Mr Farhan Zahoor said: "It's taken 30 years to get where we are today and we feel it's just about right. The market is a well-oiled machine and that's down to the markets management.

"Quite simply, we feel we're happy where we are and we don't want to move. Traders also feel the new site is not going to be in the heart of the town centre. We're being sidelined."

Association treasurer Mr Alan Garman, whose family-run shoe stall has been on Bury's outdoor market since 1945, commented: "Traders are outraged.

Publicity

"Westfield has had two and a half years to build up a good publicity machine and we have a consultation period of just three months.

"What we are saying is that enough is enough. There have been two market moves in the past 30 years. We do not need a third. I know the public is angry that their market is even being considered for a move. It is we, the traders, who have built up the markets into what they are today.

"It seems to me this company wants prime sites at the expense of good, hard working market people."

He said many stallholders felt the planned site was on the periphery of the town centre and trade could suffer as a consequence.

The association is liaising with traders' representatives of the indoor market and the meat and fish hall over the revamp plans.

A spokesman for Westfield stressed that all stakeholders must work together and denied claims the new markets site would be on the fringe of the revamped Mill Gate.

"We want to place the markets at the heart of Bury town centre, indeed right at the front door," he said.

"The new location will ensure that all visitors to the town come through the markets and not miss or avoid them as they can so easily at present. The future success of Mill Gate shopping centre and the markets are bound together."