Wednesday 31 August 2016

Council Endorses Trader Compensation Proposal


We reported in a previous article that City Council was to consider a proposal to set up a compensation fund for QVM Traders impacted by renewal. A meeting was conducted yesterday (Tuesday 30/8/2016) and the Council resolved - 

That Council:
-        Notes the amendments made by management to the Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal Implementation Framework (Attachment 1 of the report from management) as directed by Council at its previous meeting, and endorses the final Implementation Framework as amended.
-        Recognises that the successful implementation of the master plan will require frequent, detailed and genuine discussions between Queen Victoria Market management and traders, and requests a full briefing to Cr Forum setting out the proposed handling of such discussions as well as the status of the Queen Victoria Market Retail Strategy.
-        Endorses in principle the establishment of a compensation fund for the purposes of providing licence fee relief for traders whose income is demonstrably affected by the Queen Victoria Market renewal, and indicates a willingness to forego the annual return to Council from Queen Victoria Market (up to approx. $4 million per year) during the renewal in order to create such a fund.

-        Requests management to work with the management of Queen Victoria Market to propose a suitable framework and mechanisms for a compensation fund for market traders.

The handling of the compensation has yet to be decided although the wording "demonstrably" suggests that traders would need to demonstrate hardship through their records and the actual compensation would relate to rent relief.