A MARKET place to rival Portobello Road or Brick Lane is the only way to rescue an ailing town centre, according to residents.

The plea was made at an Action Area Committee meeting on Wednesday last week where community leaders and councillors locked horns over the best way to regenerate Acton town centre.

Ealing Council is keen to introduce a farmers' market, similar to the one that has proved a success in West Ealing, but residents are pushing for a larger market, that would sell clothes and household items as well as food.

Both sides agree that a market is needed to support existing shops in the area but further feasibility studies will now be carried out in the new year, with a view to establishing the new resource by April 2002. Anna Graziano, 29, resident and member of community regeneration forum Action Acton, from Friars Way, said: "Acton is desperate for some character and colour and, in that sense, needs the kind of market that exists on the Portobello Road in Notting Hill, or Brick Lane in east London."

However, Ealing's sustainability co-ordinator, Mike Calderbank, believes a farmers' market is the way to attract new shoppers. A footcount taken on November 10 showed 709 people visited Leeland Road compared with 310 on September 22, the week before the market was launched.