WENSLEYDALE'S leading auction mart has announced what management have described as one of its most significant milestones in its history.

The Hawes Auction Mart board used the company's annual meeting to confirm they have agreed a joint venture with chartered surveyors and estate agent George F White.

Company secretary and general manager Maurice Hall said: "We need to seek out other sources of income to sustain our core business as a livestock mart.

"This is one of the most significant business milestones in Hawes Auction Mart's 90-year history.''

The George F White office will be headed by partner Nigel Foster, and a team from the company's Bedale office.

Initially, the service will be available on site on Tuesdays, to coincide with mart day, although Mr Foster said a full-time operation was planned.

He said: "This is an exciting and challenging step forward for both Hawes Farmers Auction Mart and George F White."

The Hawes mart has 370 shareholders and provides services for more than 1,000 livestock dealers in the upper and surrounding dales.

It is renowned for specialising in high-quality store and breeding Mule and Swaledale sheep.

However, with the farming industry in decline, auction marts have been through some lean times and have had to look at alternative means of bringing in revenue.

In addition, countryside stewardship schemes and conservation projects to protect and enhance environmentally sensitive area have driven down the number of animals kept on farms, while the effects of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis can still be felt in some areas, where some farmers no longer keep livestock.

In 1997, more than 204,000 animals were sold at Hawes; last year the figure was down 40 per cent to 119,000.

Mr Hall said: "Our aim is to give Hawes Auction Mart the opportunity to provide farmers, members of the community and visitors to the area with another reason to use our site."