Wakefield Council insisted this week it had no plans to knock down a controversial David Adjaye-designed market hall, despite calls for its demolition from a council watchdog

At last week’s monthly meeting of the council’s economy scrutiny committee it was said that the £3 million building, opened last June, should be torn down — and should never have been built in the first place.

One committee member, Janice Haigh, said the layout was wrong, and added that “a crane with one of those demolition balls” would be one way to improve it.

The building, which replaced a 100-year-old market hall in the West Yorkshire city, received 10,000 shoppers in its first week of trading. But stallholders have complained that it has failed to attract enough footfall since.

The 4,000sq m market houses 49 general indoor units, a food hall with 11 retail areas, as well as nine shops with street frontages and almost 50 outdoor stalls.

It was one of the key parts of a stalled £200 million city centre revamp known as the Trinity Walk redevelopment.

A council spokeswoman defended the market and said locals should persevere with it. “There is no question of it being knocked down,” she said. “It is a new building, different for Wakefield, and for some it has taken time to get used to.”

An Adjaye spokeswoman said: “This is the first we’ve heard about it. We’ve not been sent anything about it.”