Uppingham Council decides to increase market rent in Rutland market town after a decade of price freezes.

Uppingham Town Council's finance committee decided yesterday that from April next year, traders on its regular Friday market will now pay £1.30 per metre of stall frontage, instead of the current £1 rate. 

The move is being done to move the rates more in line with other markets, and comes after nine years of the rate being frozen. 

At the meeting of the town council's finance committee last night (Wednesday, October 30) clerk Adam Lowe had proposed a 50 per cent price rise to £1.50 per metre, but this was challenged by the collective council, which instead decided on taking the rate to £1.30. 

Currently the council makes £12,500 per year from the regular markets and the move will see about £3,000 of additional income.  

Chairman and town mayor David Ainslie said he would not be happy with increasing it to £1.50 as the council wanted to support the market and the traders. 

The clerk said a number of traders currently have larger stalls than what they pay for, so the council decided he would remeasure each existing pitch and bill the traders for bigger pitches at the current £1 rate. 

The committee also decided to move ahead with proposals to increase the burial charges from April. Currently Uppingham residents are charged £255 for a single grave, with a £1 charge for under 18s and a £995 for Rutland residents who do not live in the town. This will increase by almost a quarter to £335 from April. The £1 fee for child graves will remain. 

Also, at the meeting the upcoming precept for the council from April was discussed. The finance committee resolved to suggest a 10 per cent increase on the town council's portion of the precept – which equates to around £8 per year for each household. The full council will make the final decision on how much to raise the precept by.