MARKET traders will be forced to find new sites after plans for a £3m upgrade to a shopping centre were given the go-ahead.

The group of market stallholders, who operate out of the Castlegate Shopping Centre, in Stockton, have until the end of the year to find new locations, or face eviction.

Redleaf VI Fund, which owns the centre, plans to transform the indoor market into three additional shops, with an upstairs storage area and elaborate ceiling facade.

Redleaf said the improvements were vital if the centre was to remain competitive.

Head of property Ashley Blake said the alterations had been anticipated by everyone, including the traders, for years.

"We are trying to make the centre warmer and brighter. Unfortunately, the market is letting it down. It's not a huge market, so I think putting in some larger, quality retail units will help us to compete with the Middlesbroughs and Darlingtons," he said.

Stockton Borough Council planning officers agreed the application with delegated powers, rather than through a planning committee. But the stallholders said they had no idea it had been agreed.

Brian Peacock, who has worked at the family fruit and veg stall since 1971, said: "The centre manager said he was going to send us a list of the shops available in here, but I have an idea what the rents are, and they are not conducive to us.

"I don't want to get a shop and have to work just as hard for half the profit.

"I have told the council that if they let me have a trailer, I would think about having a stall outside in the town centre, but I would want to have it every day."

Andrew Marley, whose father, Dennis, has had a butcher's stall since 1971, said: "We are looking for other premises, but there is not a lot about at the moment."

He added: "It is worrying, because it's our livelihoods. The rents in the centre are astronomical."

Sue Burgess, town centre manager for Stockton council said: "Stockton's market is very much valued and, now planning approval has been given for the change of use in the privately-owned shopping centre, we will contact those traders, again re-offering our help to relocate them, if they so wish."