Sheffield’s Moor Market service charge increases for the first time in more than ten years

At today’s Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee meeting at the town hall, members decided to increase the service charge by CPI plus eight per cent.

With the decision, the charge will be increased to £3,249 in 2024/25 (an increase from £2,826), £3,729.85 in the following year and £4,281.87 in the 2026/27 financial year.

The original proposal would have seen a bigger increase (26 per cent) in only two years.

This means Sheffield City Council will need to subsidise the Market Traders, members were told.

A report published ahead of the meeting stated that there was a rent for the market stall, a utility charge, and a service charge that is designed to recover the cost of providing the general services of the markets used by all (which includes items such as market staffing costs, cleansing etc.).

However, “due to the pandemic, the Service Charge has not been reviewed and we are significantly under recovering”.

The report added: “The service charge represents the costs incurred by the landlord (Sheffield Council) for running and maintaining shared parts of the building or estate, which legally the landlord can charge back to tenants.”

In total for the financial year 2021/22 operational costs attributable to the Market Service Charge at the Moor Market was £1,290,014.

The amount recharged to traders was £841,903 showing an overall subsidy/deficit of £448,111.

The recovery rate for this financial year was approximately 65.3% of the actual costs.

Officers added current occupancy figures at The Moor Market were 81% – with the national average for market occupancy standing at 72%.