PERHAPS we should not be surprised the Covered Market saga is dragging on, traders love to haggle after all.

But it is time both they and the council bury the hatchet and get on with the latest arbitration.

There has already been two years’ of delays since the council proposed its 70 per cent hike in rents.

Of course, it is important for the traders to get a fair deal. It is a great asset to the city and a draw for toursists, and huge rent increases could jeopardise the future of the tenants and the market itself.

But the situation we are in is almost as bad, with neither party seemingly willing to compromise.

Even when agreements are there in principle there are delays in signing on the dotted line and getting the deal done.

It has almost got to ther point where they need an arbitrator to sort out their arbitrator.

We should have reached the stage where this whole process would be over by now and yet this second arbitration has not even begun.

In the meantime traders are worried about what back rent they could be forced to fork out and uncertainty hovers over the place, which can be sensed by visitors.

Like the famous Monty Python sketch, we are all thinking “Get on with it!”