A Lee market organiser who runs a weekly event in a shopping centre poised for an £80m redevelopment says he is fed up with "negativity" over the site.

Trevor Gardner has been running a market every Wednesday at the Leegate Centre for the past two years and says it attracts good crowds.

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But he says every time the centre - set to be transformed with an Asda, homes and cafes in the coming years - features in the press the coverage is negative.

Mr Gardner said: "I run a market and every time you run an article people don;t turn up, they don't bother coming down.

"When we're down there trying to make a living it's quite demoralising really.

"We've got a cafe, a charity shop, a pub. Nobody ever turns round and says what's actually there."

Mr Gardner said he was hoping to carry on at the Leegate for another 18 months, running a market with around 22 stalls.

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He said: "We're here and we need to make a living. It would be nice to be supported to be quite honest.

"I only charge £5 a stall. We get an old girl come down on her mobility scooter to have a chat. It's very social."

A planning application by site owner St Modwen for the redevelopment, billed as a "radical rethink" and a catalyst for regeneration, is set to be submitted later this year. 

Councillor Jim Mallory, who helps run a community centre at Leegate, said he was geneally pleased with the plans but there were still concerns about the Asda's size, the traffic it would create and a lack of public space.

He said: "We think the size of the Asa impinges on the public space which people could use and Trevor's market could flourish."

Coun Mallory said he was pushing for a new square, set back from Burnt Ash Road. He said: "The overall project needs to make better use of its public space, otherwise it's jamming a huge supermarket beside a busy road."

Visit leegate-regeneration.co.uk for details of the plans