PLANS for a livestock market, business park and about 300 homes in Malton have been largely welcomed by local residents.

About 250 people attended a public consultation event last week, which set out details of an interlinked £17m package of development proposals.

The plans, which aim to create 600 jobs, have been proposed by Commercial Development Projects – part of the Marshall Group of companies, the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation and the Malton and Ryedale Farmers’ Livestock Market Company Ltd.

They include the relocation of the livestock market to a purpose-built facility on land adjacent to Eden Camp, along with a new business park which would, in part, be funded by housing development on three sites, land north of Pasture Lane and north of Rainbow Lane, in Malton, and land south of Westgate, in Old Malton.

Local company The Ginger Pig Limited has committed to relocating to new larger premises at the site, should the proposals secure planning permission.

The consultation started with a reception on Thursday evening, which was attended by about 25 local stakeholders and was followed by a public exhibition on Friday and Saturday, attended by 245 local people.

Of those who provided formal comments, 93 per cent said that they were in favour of the proposals. By comparison, two per cent said that they were not in favour, with a further five per cent in support of the livestock market but not the housing.

A small number expressed concerns about traffic and flooding.

Charles Vyvyan, on behalf of Commercial Development Projects, said issues would now be addressed through detailed discussions.

“All comments will be carefully reviewed over the next month to ensure that any concerns are fully addressed,” he said.

“We would like to thank all the people who took the time to visit and to give us their feedback.

“It proved to be a very useful exercise and the whole team remarked on the positive attitude shown by the people of Malton and Norton to the consultation process, which made it a particularly useful exercise.”

The aim is to submit a planning application in February.