A MAN has claimed he will lose his livelihood after the relocation of Redditch market from Royal Square to Market Place, writes Matt Smith.

Carl Warrilow, of Wythall, has been on the market for 23 years and this week will drop one day of trading because he has not been given a permanent stall.

Mr Warrilow will lose his Friday trading because two temporary stalls he has been given will only be put up at 6am, which he says is too late.

Mr Warrilow needs a permanent stall because the perishable goods he sells, like meat and bread, need to be delivered as early as possible.

26 permanent stalls have been given to other traders, leaving Mr Warrilow no choice.

He said: "I'm going to be losing my livelihood - I need to be in the market by 5am to set up my stall because of what I sell.

"The problem is I know at least three traders who have permanent stalls and I know they will not be trading every day."

Market manager Dave Princep said: "The council has had to allocate space for more than 80 traders and generally they are pleased.

"We have tried to organise it as fairly as we can but changing it now will have a knock-on effect on all the other traders."

Meanwhile, Redditch market traders have been forced to delay their move to a new location for a week after work on new stalls was not finished on time.

The move from Royal Square to an area around St Stephen's Church should have taken place on Monday but will not happen until next week.

Mr Prinsep said: "The delay is because it hasn't been possible to complete electrical works on time for lighting and such like.

"We want a smooth transition for the traders. We might have been able to move this Thursday or Friday but they are the busiest days so we're holding off until Monday.

"But the delay is typical of construction work - that something doesn't happen when you want it to if you rely on a third party."

The market is moving temporarily to make way for the new Debenhams department store and a covered market.