NORTH Wiltshire farmers and hauliers fear plans to move the Chippenham Livestock Market to Cribbs Causeway would make travelling a nightmare.

Premier Livestock Auctions will lose their lease on the Cocklebury Road site in Chippenham at the end of the year because landlord North Wiltshire District Council wants to make room for the new Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office.

Although Premier is determined to stay in Chippenham as long as possible director Peter Kingwill said they could not set up a new market in the Chippenham area and Cribbs Causeway was a possible alternative.

Farmer Nigel Maidment, from Cleverton, said: "I would be horrified by this and so would most of my neighbouring farmers.

"Many have been to the Cribbs Causeway site and it is very difficult to get to unless you travel down the motorway, down the M5 and leave at Cribbs Causeway.

"I cannot imagine many of my neighbours would wish to travel down the motorway in a Land Rover and trailer, with cattle, for welfare and safety reasons."

Mr Maidment, who took over his farm from his father in the 1970s, has been a regular visitor to Chippenham market for decades.

He also works as a sales clerk at the market.

"If PLA had any feeling for local farmers they would pursue the offer made by the district council some years ago to find a site near junction 17," he said.

"Cirencester Market is on the verge of closing, which creates a vast opportunity for picking up a large catchment area for the market."

Mr Maidment said Chippenham Market had been very successful for the last 18 months, since it reopened after Foot and Mouth.

"There is a need for this in the Chippenham area I don't think they can persuade people to go to Bristol," he said.

Mr Kingwill said PLA had run the site at Cribbs Causeway for 12 months already, with sales already taking place.

But he wanted to keep the market in Chippenham as long as possible and was not convinced the lease would end this year.

"We just don't know what might happen," he said. "It's not certain we'll stay, but we may be longer by months or years. It depends on what's going on with the record office."

He said the bid for lottery funding for the new record office had just been submitted, and a lot of water had to pass under the bridge before anything was certain.

"We don't want to move out any earlier than we have to," he said.

"The market is going really well. We've had another excellent Spring, so we're not going to up sticks until we absolutely have to."

Dairy farmer George Candy, from Dauntsey, said the move to Cribbs Causeway would not make much difference for him in terms of travelling time but worried the change would not be good for other farmers and he believed many would use the Frome market to avoid the journey to Bristol.

"I understand sales at the Cribbs Causeway site have not been well supported so far," he said.

"Markets in general are not so well supported these days as farmers are selling direct to abattoirs.

"Chippenham Market used to be a weekly outing but I've only been there four or five times in the last 18 months. Markets are on the decline and that's the reality of life."

The Frome market is also operated by PLA and runs on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Mr Kingwill said its future was assured because PLA own the site.

Haulier Steve Handy, who has run his own business in Bromham for the past 10 years, said he feared Cribbs Causeway would be too far to travel for many north Wiltshire farmers.

"To be quite honest I expect most will transfer to Frome instead," he said.

"I think that would be more viable. I've spoken to several farmers about that."

He said the journey to Chippenham took around 30 to 40 minutes but the long haul down to Bristol in the traffic could take up to two hours.

"Market conditions change all the time and my business adapts," he said. "But it will be sad when Chippenham Market closes. There's something about that site and it seems to attract the best prices."

Philip Abbatt, chairman of Wiltshire National Farmers' Union, said: "The message at the moment is, it's business as usual at Chippenham.

"It will be sad to see Chippenham Market go but life will go on," he said. "The closure of a few markets makes the rest more viable, and that is what we have to do."