MORE than 60 people turned out for a town council meeting in?Hatherleigh on Tuesday night to hear the latest on the potential closure of the livestock market.

Market owners Vicks are looking for alternatives for the site, but any plans will have to include the popular pannier market held every Tuesday.

The town council called the August meeting to hear the latest news on the development project for the market site from Neil Emery, one of the presidents of development company LHC.

He revealed that LHC are currently still looking at the feedback received from more than 300 residents at the public consultation event held at Hatherleigh Community Centre on July 14.

Due to the large number of people in attendance on?Tuesday, Mr Emery spoke directly to the public: 'The purpose of the public consultation events and the process we are undertaking now is to understand the feeling of the town and understand the issues that are relevant to residents.

'As a design team, we need to respond to concerns raised by the public and be aware of those throughout any proposals we may make.

'We intentionally didn't provide a design scheme at the consultation event in July because we felt it would be premature to do so.

'The intention of the design team has always been that the pannier market stays. The point of what we are doing now is to look at what may happen if the livestock market were to close.

'We shall give a summary of all the information we have to Hatherleigh Town Council and the borough council once it has been completed.'

Members of the public were allocated 15 minutes to raise concerns with the town council before the public part of the meeting was declared over.

Hatherleigh resident Cindy Squire said: 'If anyone was asked to describe Hatherleigh, the most central idea would be the livestock market.

'It must surely not be allowed to cease, especially because of the market charter. Hatherleigh has a right to a market. People crowd into Hatherleigh for the market — nowhere for miles around comes close to Hatherleigh Market.

'Some stallholders have been coming here for over forty years. In an age where we are encouraged to support local businesses, the market is an ideal way to do so.

'The market helps provide Hatherleigh with a sense of community in the rural area. We have all seen in the last few days what the lack of community can do.

'The market is at the heart of Hatherleigh and is what makes our town different. It is essential this heart keeps beating.'

Cindy Squire counted the number of cars the market brought to Hatherleigh on Tuesday: 'Today, there were 632 cars parked in total in Hatherleigh. If every car has an average of three people, that is 1,897 people visiting the market today.'

Madeleine Taylor, postmistress at Hatherleigh Post Office, felt if this footfall were lost it could have a knock-on effect: 'The real fear is that town businesses will be hit by the market closure.

'Not only does it bring in trade relating directly to the market, but people enter the town and visit the shops. A great number of tourists visit the market. Hatherleigh Market is a trading centre for the area and is vital to the continuation of the rural economy.

'It would be the beginning of the end for Hatherleigh as we know and love it.'

Members of the public applauded both women once they had finished speaking to council members.

Cllr Graham Alford said: 'All the information received from the planners will be made available on the town council website shortly.

'I can see we are going to need a public meeting in the near future on this issue.'

LHC giving feedback to Hatherleigh Town Council is the beginning of the third stage of the anticipated project timescale, with the feedback leading to the preparation of initial design proposals for the site.

The second consultation event is due to take place in Hatherleigh either in September or October.

Hatherleigh has had a charter to hold a market since 1220 and in 1693 a royal charter was granted by William and Mary for the Tuesday market.