Fears over cattle market move

Fears over cattle market move

The market could move to Cribbs Causeway

Farmers in Wiltshire are furious that a cattle market could be moved to a site near Bristol.

Chippenham's weekly market market trades on a piece of council-owned land at Cocklebury Road in the town.

But its lease is up at the end of the year and it is widely expected the market will be forced to move as the land is set to be part of a major redevelopment.

Premier Livestock Auctions (PLA) which runs the market say it could merge with another market at Cribbs Causeway in South Gloucestershire.

But the people who use the market say they want it to stay in the Chippenham area.

'No consultation'

Nigel Maidment, a farmer from Malmesbury, says customers have not been consulted and no-one wants to go to Bristol.

He said "Chippenham is where the market thrives, this is where we need a replacement one.

"Three years ago the council set aside money to help PLA build and set up a new market in the area - why they have not done it I do not know."

Fellow farmer Jeremy Cottle said cattle markets could not be allowed to die out.

He said: "Cattle markets have to be here - if they did not exist we would not have any control at all over prices - we would be bulldozed by the supermarkets."