TODAY'S announcement that Darlington's cattle market is seeking a new home will be welcomed by most people who live near the current site.

It may have been sensible to build a cattle market so close to the town centre 125 years ago, but no one in their right mind would do so now.

When it was first established in the mid-19th Century, the site was not surrounded by houses. Animals were transported by rail, not by lorry.

Now the Clifton Road site is poorly served by roads and hemmed in on all sides.

Market days are notable for the unavoidable extra traffic, noise and congestion they cause.

No wonder some of the mart's neighbours have been campaigning for 50 years to get it moved.

The mart itself has been looking to move for many years. In 1994, the Department of Environment ruled the mart could not be moved to a proposed site at Holdforth Grange, near Hurworth.

Ironically, it said the complete development - that also included a housing proposal - would be "obtrusive" and "totally unacceptable" in a countryside area.

The same year, sites at Skipbridge, near Hurworth, and land north of Yarm Road, between Lingfield Way and the A66 bypass, were also put forward. Both came to nothing.

Today's proposal has similarities to the ill-fated Holdforth Grange plan - to sell the land for re-development and use the money to fund a new market.

But this time, the chosen location is on land off the A68, far enough away from homes not to cause Government planners any concerns.

We wish the cattle market well in its new home.