HEREFORD City Council has picked a fight with its county counterpart because it is not convinced about a market move.

The city council says Herefordshire Council has been too quick to shift the city’s open market into High Town, leaving legal protocols behind. Herefordshire Council believes moving the stalls out of the cattle market site was above-board and essential to their survival.

At the centre of the fight are interpretations of the 2003 Hereford Markets Act, which states the county authority may relocate city markets providing such a move doesn’t interfere with “any rights, powers or privileges enjoyed by any person in respect of another market within the district.” According to the Act no market move can take place without consent of that person.

Herefordshire Council’s cabinet backed the open market re-location – with the recommendation of a review a year on – having heard legal advice that said the move could be made without breaching the Act. City council representatives claimed otherwise, citing the Buttermarket and Farmers’ Market as cases in point.

Councillor Anna Toon, speaking as leader of Hereford City Council, said the Act’s reference to “any rights enjoyed by any person” left the move open to challenge, something the city council was considering.

Herefordshire Council leader Councillor Roger Phillips said that such a challenge was “fine” but had to keep in mind the open market’s future. The cabinet go-ahead means the market could be operating on a new St Peter’s Street/High Town site this month.