MAY PEN, Clarendon — As the busy Christmas season approaches, vendors here are again highlighting the need for a proper market facility.

The vendors, most of whom ply their trade on the street, want the Clarendon Parish Council to build a shopping arcade in the town centre, which they believe will put an end to selling in unauthorised areas.

They are also urging the council to regulate night vending, which they said proves more profitable than selling at daytime.

The concerns were raised at a meeting inside the council chambers on Wednesday evening with Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell, Central Clarendon Member of Parliament Mike Henry, and Head of the Clarendon Police Division Senior Superintendent of Police Michael Bailey.

The meeting was called as vendors continue to protest the council’s decision to put them in the municipal market, which was recently given a facelift. They are, however, refusing to use the facility, noting that, among other things, it is too small.

“I challenge any one of you to show me where in the market there is space to sell clothes,” a vendor told the gathering to the approval of her colleagues.

“It’s a shame! We don’t have a market; it can’t even hold 10 people good. May Pen needs an arcade,” she said.

“We don’t have a proper place to sell because the market is stink,” another vendor said. “Just give us a proper market and we will stay in there. We are paying market fees, so just work with us and we will work with you,” she added.

While giving no short-term guarantees, Barnswell identified Muir Park, which is currently being used as a transport centre, as a possible location for an arcade. He stressed that it will come at “a cost”, especially since the May Pen Market is operating at a loss, adding that the local authority would first have to find a suitable replacement for the bus park.

“Yes, we are looking into building an arcade, but that means certain persons will have to be inconvenienced,” Barnswell said.

“We have been trying to facilitate you,” the mayor told the vendors, “but it is difficult when you are operating at a deficit; the May Pen Market is operating at a loss. We have to be subsidising it from other areas that are doing well.”

Henry, the longstanding Jamaica Labour Party MP for Central Clarendon, backed the vendors in their call for night vending.

“There is no law that stops night vending,” Henry said. “There are regulations under the parish council that can allow it, so I will be asking my councillors to take a resolution to the parish council to allow for night vending,” he said.

Henry also urged SSP Bailey to take complaints made against one of his officers, whom the vendors labelled as unprofessional, seriously.

Bailey responded: “You can rest assured that it will be dealt with. You will see improvements.”

Meanwhile, Barnswell urged the vendors to register with the parish council, warning that persons who refuse to do so will be prevented from plying their wares.

Registration will begin in January and will run for a week at St Gabriel’s Anglican Church Hall. It will attract an annual fee of $2,500.

“You will be given ID cards specifying where you should vend,” Barnswell said.