IT is a strange contradiction that market traders, who should be stalwarts of free enterprise, are often the most reactionary of individuals when confronted with new trading developments.

So the response of some Northallerton market traders to the success of the Cledale farmers' market is perhaps not surprising. It is perceived as a threat to the existing market, not complementary to it.

It is difficult to see how what is fundamentally an occasional market on a Sunday can take business away from an established town centre market held on two days a week. Some goods sold will be similar or even the same as that sold at the regular market but that is not reason enough to suggest it should be strangled at birth.

Farmers' markets are here to stay. They are the retail phenomenon of the moment. Their growth is exponential. At the last count there were 200 of them around the country and that number is increasing all the time. Annual turnover at these markets is likely to reach £100m by next spring

Critics of the Cledale market do perhaps have a point to make about to what extent it benefits the town centre. Sam Turner's is not the ideal location.

Our Market Town Revival campaign today visits Barnard Castle and as our report on page 16 indicates, the success of that market in attracting people to the town lies in its central location. A few parking spaces are lost for a day but the benefits clearly outweigh that disadvantage. It has brought people into the town who might otherwise have gone elsewhere.

Sam Turner's as a location is not the best one from Northallerton town centre's point of view. People will attend the market but how many will drift on into the town centre on the Sundays and bank holidays when they are held? Probably not many.

Northallerton's farmers' market should be encouraged, but a different location should be considered. Perhaps then the town's existing traders might feel it was less of a threat to their livelihoods and would be prepared to work alongside it.

As our Market Town Revival coverage has suggested, partnerships are the only the way forward for market towns facing increasing competition. Squabbling turf wars just play into the hands of the corporate giants lining up to take the customers away for good.