The state government and Melbourne Market Authority (MMA) will come face to face with fresh fruit and vegetable wholesalers and growers at the Supreme Court of Victoria on October 28.
In the long-running saga over the relocation of the West Melbourne-based wholesale fruit and vegetable market to Epping, the court will hear from both sides about the commercial fairness of leases at the new Cooper Street site.
The move to Epping will see the average rent for fruit and vegetable stands rise to $435 per square metre a year – up from $385 at the Footscray Road market.
There will be 103 stallholders acting as litigants in the class action against the government and the MMA.
The Footscray Road market is set to close by the end of July next year, with the Epping site due to open in August.
VicRoads is co-ordinating an upgrade of Cooper Street, to start late this year and finish by the middle of next year, to coincide with the opening of the wholesale market.
