HOPES are high that a new state-of-the-art livestock market could be up and running by the end of the year.

Plans for a modern new livestock market on the outskirts of Malton were first unveiled four-years-ago and received planning permission from Ryedale District Council in August 2014.

Work is now underway on the site, including the building of a new access road off the A169 near Eden Camp, and supporters of the scheme hope it will be finished by December.

The complex has the backing of the Malton and Ryedale Farmers Livestock Market Company and a meeting is being arranged with farmers, landowners, and potential investors.

Company chairman, Pat Foxton, said: “There is every interest in seeing this marvellous investment become a reality.

“We have had not only keen interest from the farming world in Ryedale, but also those not involved in agriculture but who want to see a new market because it will be of enormous value to the whole of Ryedale and beyond.”

The future of Malton’s town centre livestock mart was thrown into doubt when the lease at its current site expired in October 2013.

Extensions were granted and a plan to create a new mart site was formed, including an agricultural business park and a satellite complex of Bishop Burton Agricultural College.

The park and market complex has already been promised £2.1m from the Local Enterprise Partnership and the designation of Malton as a Food Enterprise Zone is expected to give the funding target a further boost.

Help has also been forthcoming from the Fitzwilliam Estate which has ambitious plans for the existing mart site which has been in the town centre for the last 80 years.

New shops are being planned in a project which civic and business leaders hope will make Malton one of the most prosperous market towns in the North.

The Fitzwilliam Estate’s scheme will include a three-storey car park, a public square and retailing outlets - all of which has now been given planning approval.

Ryedale Council leader Linda Cowling said the Food Enterprise Zone will help Malton’s economy.

She said: “It will boost the local economy, making it easier for food and farming-related businesses to prosper locally. These are exciting times for Malton and the rest of Ryedale with massive new investment and the prospect of many new jobs.”