Protesters plan march over sale of car park

Campaigners are organising the demonstration in Malton next week after Ryedale District Council pushed ahead with the proposals this summer to sell off the Wentworth Street car park in a deal that is expected to raise up to 5m.

Business owners, local councillors and residents are expected to join the march which will leave the car park at 2pm on next Thursday before finishing at the Old Town Hall in Malton Market Place.

The chairman of Malton and Norton Business in Action, Denys Townsend, who has helped organise the protest, claimed the profits of the town's independent traders will be dramatically affected if a new supermarket is built on the land.

Mr Townsend, who runs the Linton Pet Shop on Malton's Market Place, said: "Businesses are very concerned about their future given the decision by the council to sell off the car park.

"I helped organise a petition which collected 2,100 signatures against the sale, but the council still decided to push ahead with it anyway.

"If the sale happens, it will have a devastating impact on Malton's town centre shops, particularly its small independent traders.

"Malton will also lose its historic character and become a clone town.

"We want to demonstrate to the council that there is still a real strength of opposition to the plans, and that is why we have organised the protest march," he said.

Councillors voted in August to sell the car park, after seven companies had expressed an interest in developing the site.