A COVERED Market trader has won his fight to stop Oxford City Council putting up his rent by 60 per cent.

Mortons sandwich shop was facing a rent increase from £15,000 to £24,000-a-year, but an independent review has instead set the new rate at £16,800 – less than the shop was willing to pay.

Other Covered Market traders are set for rent reviews in September.

The city council said last night it was “only reasonable” it should try to get the best return it could.

Graham Jones, of the traders’ group Rox, said: “Not only are the council greedy, but they are ineffectually greedy.

“They’re going for greed and losing out. Now they’re in danger of killing the golden goose.”

Mortons decided to fight the rent rise after the council rejected the sandwich shop’s offer to pay £17,500, an increase of £2,500 a year.

Owner Craig Muir said if he had he lost the case it would have had a “grave impact” on his business.

He said: “It saddens me the council appeared quite happy to risk such an outcome.”

Mr Muir teamed up with the Covered Market Traders Association (CMTA) to take the fight to an independent arbitrator, surveyor Carter Jonas.

It is thought to have cost the CMTA and Mr Muir £15,000 to take out the action and they want the council to foot the bill.

Chris Farran, chairman of the CMTA, said: “We don’t want to crow, but we are pleased common sense seems to have prevailed.

“We do now hope that the council will be more constructive over future rent negotiations. We think the council has been unrealistic in its expectations.”

Colin Cook, councillor with special responsibility for city centre development, said: “At a time when the city council is under considerable financial pressure as a result of central Government cuts it is only reasonable the council should seek to achieve the best return it can from assets such as the Covered Market.”

But he added: “We accept the rent figure set by the arbitrator as being the market rent for that use in that unit.”

It emerged earlier this month that the city council is planning £85,000 of maintenance work at the Covered Market.

In 2008, more than 3,500 people signed traders’ petitions against rent rises. In February last year the market started opening on Sundays.