3,000 back petition to save Skirlington market amid plans for leisure development

Over three thousand people have signed a petition to save Skirlington Market in East Yorkshire, over fears it could be forced to close.

The site owners are in talks about converting the land into new leisure facilities, including a swimming pool and sun deck.

Stall holder Gary Piggott owns 'Totally caked' - he says it would be extremely difficult for him to move his business.

Gary said: "It isn't as simple as just getting in touch with another council and saying, can we come and trade on your market? Baking, for example, is massively oversaturated. Markets only want one, maybe two of the same trade, so it's now impossible for us to get on anywhere else until you're actually there.

"If this place goes, it's going to be heartbreaking. We're not going to see these people again, and on Sundays, we class them as our day off. We work seven days a week. Sunday trading at Skirlington is our day off.

A peition has now been launched to save the market, Gary added:

"The amount of people that have signed it already just tells these owners that nobody wants to see it go. We're speaking to all the caravan owners that have plots on that site and they're literally move in elsewhere because they don't want to be somewhere where that market isn't.