A meeting is to be held between Burnham-On-Sea Town Council and the organisers of Somerset’s Farmers Markets later this month to try and secure the future of the monthly events.
Burnham-On-Sea.com reported last December how the loss of Burnham’s Town Centre Manager, Anne-Marie Spalding, due to district council cutbacks had put a question mark over the future of the monthly markets.
Mrs Spalding organises the successful High Street markets on the last Friday of each month, co-ordinating stall bookings and arranging road closures.
With her departure scheduled for April, the Town Council is now assessing how it can safeguard the markets’ future by transferring management to Somerset Farmers’ Markets, an organisation that currently oversees nine markets across the county.
Councillors will meet bosses from the organisation on February 25th to discuss how to secure the future of the Burnham markets.
The group’s Liz Scott told Burnham-On-Sea.com on Saturday (February 16th) that she is “optimistic” a deal will be reached.
“I’m sure we’ll come to an agreement to take away any pressure on the Town Council of running these events from April onwards,” she said.
“I’m hopeful that we can work together to take away any doubt about the markets. Somerset Farmers’ Markets used to run Highbridge’s farmers markets and is ideally positioned to take on the running of the Burnham market when the Town Centre Manager goes.”
In the meantime, the February and March Burnham farmers’ markets are going ahead as normal on the final Friday of the month.
