Traders at a struggling Sandwell market are to see their pitch rents permanently slashed to £5 a day at weekends in a move which could be rolled out across the whole borough.

But stallholders who fall behind on their rents will be penalised with rising charges under plans approved by Sandwell Council.

Traders at Wednesbury’s ailing markets will see their pitch rents fall from £17.60 to just £5 a day on Fridays and Saturdays and bosses say the rates are designed to help traders through the credit crunch.

While those on top of their finances face a zero or 0.2 per cent rise in the cost of weekly pitch hire, stallholders in West Bromwich New Market Hall who are two months overdue on payments to the council will see charges rise by more than five per cent, from £162.75 to £170.90 a week.

Wednesbury market has suffered since moving from The Shambles to Union Street in August 2007 and has been faced with competition from the Morrisons superstore. On some weekends as few as four or five traders turn out.

A special reduced fee of £5 for a stall was trialled last year but council leader Bill Thomas said he wanted to make it permanent at a meeting last night.

Councillor Thomas told a meeting of party leaders: “We all know the economic situation, there is a lot of concern about trading conditions. I think this is a very thoughtful budget proposal for this year.”

In January, Sandwell Council brought in a private firm to carry out a six-month inquiry, costing £17,000, looking at ways of breathing new life into indoor and outdoor markets.

Regeneration chief Councillor Bob Badham said: “We will be looking at ways to attract traders in.”

Shaun Rushworth, chairman of Wednesbury Traders’ Association, said: “As the weather improves this is the time to attract more people to having stalls.”