Although the butchers, greengrocers and fishmongers have at last joined the rest of the John Street Market traders, creating a mixed market which is now a pleasure to visit and a credit to Bradford, it seems that this long and sorry saga is not yet over.

The project has been dogged by controversy from the very beginning, when the Council prematurely closed and demolished Rawson Market five years ago and moved the tenants to "temporary" premises in Rawson Road, then discovered that it didn't have the money available to rebuild on the site.

The scheme has been beset by problems ever since. However, these have now largely been resolved with the Rawson and John Street markets being combined in an improved and extended market hall and the former Rawson Market site now earmarked for an important retail development.

Just when we should all have been able to breathe a sigh of relief, there are now reports of an overspend caused largely by the cost of a new roof being much higher than was originally thought. The new controversy is now over who is responsible for footing the bill for these higher costs. Is it the Council or is it the managing contractor Bovis Lend Lease?

It is to be hoped that when the negotiations are over, we council taxpayers don't find ourselves footing the additional bill. We have already stumped up an extra £400,000 for this £3.5 million scheme at a time when the Council needs every penny it raises from us to fulfil its many obligations to us.