John Sayers, who coordinates the market on behalf of Clunes Neighbourhood House, recently announced plans to revamp the market by rebranding it and moving the date of the event to the third Sunday of the month, the same day as Talbot, in order to take advantage of the many hundreds of people who made the monthly drive through the area.

He said Clunes Neighbourhood House made an application last September to close a section of lower Fraser Street, where the market would be staged.

But 48 hours before the event, council phoned him to say they couldn't close the street.

"It put us in a very, very awkward position," Mr Sayers said.

"We'd essentially advertised it as being in a closed-off section of the main street."

Mr Sayers said on the day of the market, on March 20, two of the larger stalls had verged onto the roadside.

"The councillor called the police and we had to move them," Mr Sayers said.

"Yes, they were on the street but it could have been negotiated in a much more friendly and amicable way."

Cr Hayes confirmed he had called on the police to attend the market on March 20.

". . . For the very simple reason a market stall had been allowed to be created on the road causing, in my view, a traffic and safety issue," he said.

"It really didn't seem the organising committee was going to do anything about that so I called the police.

"It was an obstruction on the road. Permission wasn't granted for that."

But Mr Sayers said he had hoped for "a little bit more understanding" from the council and from the local council representative, Cr Hayes.

Clunes Neighbourhood House committee of management chairman Les Eastcott said Neighbourhood House was reliant on funds raised through the Sunday market.