TRADERS whose businesses have been blighted since signs to their market town were removed from the A1(M) have reinstated a sign at a fraction of the cost the Highways Agency said it would cost.

Masham firms, including Swinton Park hotel and Black Sheep Brewery, have paid for a £2,000 sign to be installed in a field off the motorway’s northbound carriageway near the Ripon junction after a seven-year campaign to get tourism signs replaced.

The agency replaced tourism signs on the southbound carriageway near junction 51 at no cost to the community and signs to Lightwater Valley and Newby Hall, both near Ripon, for no charge.

But it has insisted Masham’s northbound brown sign, which was taken down after work to widen the A1 began, be funded by the town.

After initially asking Masham for £187,000 to replace it, sparking an intervention from the Roads Minister, the agency has said the town must pay £32,000 and agree to cover its expenses should an underground fibre optic cable be damaged.

Members of Masham Town Council said although they have seen their trade drop by up to 50 per cent since the signs were removed, it could not contemplate signing an agreement which could bankrupt it with a bill running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Councillor Flo Grainger, who runs a campsite in the town, said the new sign in farmer Anthony Chapman’s field was a temporary measure and campaigners, including Ripon MP Julian Smith, would continue pressing the Highways Agency for brown signs.

She said: “I had visitors last week who missed the Masham junction and this is happening all the time. “We felt that we couldn’t let another summer go by without pointing the way to Masham.

“We have been treated very unjustly and asking for a sign to be replaced is not like asking for the moon and the stars.”

Last month, firms from Masham to Wensleydale backed the town council in writing to Prince Charles to ask for his support in their campaign.

Susan Briggs, director of the Dales Tourism Business Network, said: "The loss of the sign didn't just affect Masham, but also 500 small tourism businesses that rely on passing trade."

Mr Smith said the town's latest efforts demonstrated an "entrepreneurial spirit".