At an Opposed Bill Committee in Parliament, Richard Turney KC, the Corporation’s legal counsel, told MPs: “There is almost universal acceptance that the sites are no longer fit for purpose, and while both sentiment and habit make these decisions difficult, the traders and the Corporation, which is the market authority, the landlord and the landowner of Smithfield and in-part of Billingsgate, have recognised for some years the practical reality that these markets cannot continue where they are.”
