Stallholders, market traders, costermongers – lend me your ears, comrades, your hour of deliverance could be at hand.

I have a plan which I hope will confound the council and save the markets.

But what sneaky strategy could help save our city centre from impending socio-economic disaster? In a word – camouflage.

Because make no mistake, the loss of the subtle market ecosystem which thrives at the centre of Birmingham would be a calamity.

In particular, it would blight the various urban communities who live at heart of the city and who for generations have worked, shopped and socialised in those same few streets.

The demise of the markets would blast the livelihoods and careers of the dozens of family businesses who trade there, as well as hobbling hundreds of established and emerging restaurants which rely on the markets as an inexhaustible larder of fresh ingredients.

For example, if you were one of the thousands of people partying at our “Jamaica Live” Olympic Weekend event in July, you would have seen a human relay of chicken bearers, stretching across from Victoria Square down to St Martins.

This chain carried fresh food up to the dozen or so chefs – including Levi Roots – who were cooking up a storm in the Square.

Thirty-five thousand people eat a lot of chickens. We just couldn’t get them all from M&S.