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By Sophie Bignall and Michael Baws THE full Ludlow Town Council is to look at a plan to raise rents for the town's Local Produce Market by 82%.

The increase is due to take effect from April 1 after four members of the council's services committee voted for the rise.

A further meeting of the committee on Monday evening, attended by all the committee's members, again passed the rise by three votes to five.

But the three councillors who voted against the plan - Linda Callender, former mayor Graeme Kidd and deputy mayor Jim Smithers - immediately signed a written request for the matter to go to the full council at a special meeting set for March 31.

The proposals also involve increases of 62% for the Green Festival in August and 94% for September's Food and Drink Festival. Most of the town's other regular markets face increases of 11% or lower.

Now council officials are trying to put together new guidelines on future rent increases.

As part of the exercise, organisers of all the town's markets will be asked to produce sets of accounts as soon as possible.

Monday's committee refused a compromise offer from Local Produce Market organiser Peter Norman for an increase from £330 to £375 a session, instead of the proposed £600.

His market is due to go twice monthly from April, but Mr Norman warned services committee chairman Councillor Tony Pound that "if the rent is set significantly higher I will have to recommend to my committee that we cancel all our bookings as soon as possible".

Coun John Aitken, who is not a member of the services committee, said: "There is clearly a need for some considerable preparatory work in respect of the need to see the statements of all market holders.

"I don't believe that this council should be in a position for judging the ability to pay.

"There is no logic in that party A should be paying more or less than party B according to what they make. It is totally inappropriate."

Coun Pound said that the decision to raise the rents was not made solely by one person.

The committee, the market manager and the previous town clerk were all involved in the process.

1:15pm Thursday 20th March 2008

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