Indoor markets in Holmfirth and Heckmondwike are set to close as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures announced by Kirklees Council.
The decision, expected to take effect during the coming financial year beginning in April, has provoked a defiant response from locals and stallholders.
In Holmfirth moves are already afoot to identify an alternative venue to the council-owned market hall and to fill it with a mix of stallholders selling fresh produce and even arts and crafts.
Local councillors claim the amount of money that will be saved by closing the building – just under £43,000 – is negligible.
Holmfirth Indoor Market currently houses 29 stalls and is open 104 days a year. Stallholders are charged £12.50 per day.
However the market has never succeeded in reaching capacity. It is understood that 20 stallholders would each need to pay £20.64 for the site – or £25.80 each for 16 stalls – in order to break even.
Stallholders expressed their surprise and disappointment at the news, which they heard from the Examiner. They have received no official notification from Kirklees Council.
The decision was included in the small print of the council’s budget for the next year, which was approved on Wednesday night. Council tax next year will rise by 6%, councillors decided at the meeting.
Fruit and veg seller Anthony Gibbons, who has traded from Holmfirth for almost 11 years, said: “There have been rumours, but nobody from the council has been in touch with me, which is poor.”
And he agreed with another stallholder, Jackie Thorpe, that traders would be happy to move to a new site in the town.
“We would happily move if the council relocated us,” said Mrs Thorpe, who runs the Cheese Shop in Holmfirth and has run a stall in the market since 2011.
“This building is not adequate for what we need. Find us another site where we have footfall and we would move.”
Clr Martyn Bolt said the decision was “a done deal” and had been taken because the markets were under-performing.
He commented: “It’s the responsibility of the local authority to promote them: to market the markets.”
Holmfirth Conservative councillor Nigel Patrick lambasted Kirklees Council for its failure to make a success of the market.
He said: “It has effectively withdrawn its support for the market. And it’s an income targeted reduction; they are not making any savings on staff.
“But if they can’t even get take-up for £12.50 a day then they’re not even trying. They have not promoted it. Instead they have given up on it.”
His colleague Clr Donald Firth added: “They have starved it of money over the years. But Holmfirth is a market town and it needs a market. We need to attract people in. If the market is closed then we will find a way to keep it open.”
