Future of Wiltshire Market Place is to be considered

Devizes Market Place is currently used as one of the town’s busiest and most central car parks as well as hosting markets.

The town council’s forward plan has requested that a task group is set up to examine the future of the Market Place and whether any changes to the current situation could be implemented.

This issue will be discussed at a meeting of the town council’s commercial committee on Tuesday, November 19, when it will be decided what the next steps for this project are.

A report by town council officers suggests public consultations should be run to discover any “tensions” arising from the Market Place’s current uses and what, if any, changes could be introduced to ease these issues.

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Devizes Market Place (Image: Newsquest) It said: “How the Market Place is used has significant implications for the town and as such the committee will need to look at wider stakeholder group involvement.

“This will need to include public consultation in starting to understand and agreeing what the purpose of the Market Place is currently, how people use it, its current limitations, and where tensions lie between these different uses.

“From that point, any task group will then be able to have a better understanding of what, if any, changes are needed, what the timeframe for any changes might be, and what the implications for change could be.”

The report explained that the Market Place comes under the remit of the commercial committee.

However, any task group would need to be an amalgamation of committee members and report back to full council due to the prominent site’s wide-ranging uses and importance.

Devizes Market Place (Image: Newsquest) Town councillors and town clerk Simon Fisher have previously told this paper they would like to see the Market Place operating as a “vibrant hub”, but emphasised they were not yet “quite ready” to take on such a large project while they focused on other schemes.

At the time, they said the community would be consulted on the future of the key location and any changes planned for it.

Mr Fisher said: “All we know is at some point we need to do something, it’s a project we need to take on.

“Many years ago, the Market Place was seen as a car park, that was its principal role, that has changed quite dramatically over the last few years.

“At some point we need to take a more serious look at a permanent arrangement.”