Liverpool's wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market is set to move to a new home as part of a plan to redevelop a 20-acre site.

Under the proposals the market, which occupies half of the land, would move from its existing rundown building to a new, as yet undecided site, the Liverpool Echo reported.

The new location would include parking, a café and public toilets with the aim of attracting new traders and customers.

Liverpool City Council said there is also the potential for meat and fish traders - based in a building near to the fruit and veg market, but not owned by the council - to transfer to a new site with the market, and for the new facility to become a wider “food hub”.

Around ten acres of the Edge Lane site would be redeveloped as a new home for a Merseyside Police patrol hub, while also providing space for the force’s vehicle repair facility, currently at Smithdown Lane.

Some of the site would also be used to rebuild the neighbouring St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, the Echo reported, while the remaining nine acres fronting Prescot Road would be used to develop up to 160 new homes.

Cabinet member for regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, said: “The market is in a really poor condition and the number of traders has been dwindling for a very long time, so doing nothing is not an option.

“We have been in discussions with the traders for some time about finding a way to secure the future of the market at a new site in a better location. Discussions are at an advanced stage and we are very close to being able to announce a preferred site which meets their needs and our ambitions.

A report on the plans will be considered by cabinet members on Friday (10 June).

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