Preston Market - What’s Happening Now?

The community has achieved a huge victory in pushing the state government to come up with planning controls for Preston Market which place a Heritage Overlay over the market and prevent the wholesale destruction of the market. This came about through persistent and dedicated pressure from members of the Preston Market community, and the Save The Preston Market Action Group is very proud of this achievement and thankful to each and every person who has been involved, however big or small your contribution has been. This victory is the community’s victory, and we must always remember that when we act together we can achieve anything!

However, the market is still privately owned by Preston Market Developments (PMD), which is itself a combination of Salta Properties and Meditch Corporation - two billionaire organizations with no connection to the community and no interest in what is best for locals. Their primary concern is how to maximize their return on investment, i.e. how to make as much profit as possible.

Because it is privately owned the traders at the market still have PMD as their landlord. As landlords, PMD have been doing a notably poor job - they have failed to maintain the market properly, despite many requests from the traders for painting, maintenance, and regular cleaning. This is a part of their strategy to claim that the market is run down and so needs to be demolished, even though as the landlords it is their responsibility to keep the market running properly. They have also failed to give the traders long leases, and charge extremely high rents, thereby making it difficult for the traders to both conduct their businesses and/or to sell them (a business with no lease is no worth very much to prospective buyers). Furthermore, PMD have threatened to issue all the traders with notices to vacate, meaning they have threatened to close the market entirely by closing each business within the market. This is a threat designed to force the state government to cave in and allow them to demolish the market. Even though the state government has said that they cannot knock the market down, it has less ability to control how the market is run by the private owners, and so until PMD retract this threat we must always be prepared for them to carry it out. So right now we are waiting and seeing - will PMD come up with new plans for the market? Will these plans respect the community’s wishes and develop around the market while leaving the market intact and functioning? Or will their new plans still involve shutting the market, or worse still demolishing it entirely? Will they follow through with their threat and close the traders' businesses? It is also a possibility that PMD decides it is too difficult and that it would be better to sell the market and invest their money elsewhere. We simply do not know, which is why we are telling supporters of the market to be on standby and be prepared to act when we know more information.

In the long run this is why the Save The Preston Market Action Group has been advocating to put the market into public hands. All of this uncertainty about the market is due to the private owners of the market having no regard for the community, the traders, or the market itself. Their primary concern is maximizing profits, and everything else, including whether our beloved market and its traders remain with us, is a secondary consideration.

So make sure you join our mailing list and to stay up to date with what is happening and so that when the time comes for us to act again you can get involved!

Save Preston Market!