MARKET traders are being uprooted and a one-way system will be put in place during major construction work on a Skipton building next month.

A £3 million project at High Street House, at the bottom of the High Street, means part of Newmarket Street will have to be partitioned off for nearly four months and a section of the setts will be unusable.

Four traders who occupy three plots on the cobbles will have to relocate.

Century-old High Street House is owned by Lostock Dene Developments and the first floor is due to undergo a complete transformation into state-of-the-art offices.

While building work is under way space around the building is needed for scaffolding and skips.

Tony Craven, one of the stallholders affected, said moving his crockery stall to another part of town would result in a loss in trade.

Fellow market trader Mark Jarvie, who has also been asked to move, said he felt they had been left in the dark over where they would be relocated.

Mr Jarvie, who sells sweets, said different locations had been mentioned, including the strip of cobbles between the High Street and Sheep Street.

Town centre manager Chris Aldred said that it was most likely the stallholders would be asked to trade in front of the town hall.

He added that it had been decided January would be the best time for work to start, rather than December.

David Flanagan, a senior partner at DR Flanagan & Co, managing agents for the building project, said that he regretted the disruptions, but said the development was complex due the building's age and layout.

He added that they had been in extensive discussions with the highways department to find the safest way to carry out the work.