Around 130 of the market's regular users packed into the Horseshoe Inn at Windmill Hill on Thursday to hear an outline of ambitious plans for a new £2.5 million market site off the A22.

If approved, it would see a 10-acre site to the west of the Diplocks roundabout transformed into a rural business centre, with a permanent market café, veterinary centre, country store and other associated services sitting alongside an enlarged, state-of-the-art livestock market.

The Hailsham Market Action Group (HMAG) has taken out a two-year option to purchase the land at an agreed fixed price and will seek outline planning permission later this year.

The group says it now wants the farming community to become shareholders in the new site and says market users would need to raise £750,000 towards the cost.

The rest would come from government funding and a £500,000 contribution from supermarket firm Aldi, which wants to build a store on the existing site market in the town centre.

Cllr David White, HMAG's legal adviser, said he hoped the market's 700 regular users would be able to give between £500 and £3,000 each to raise the figure required.

He told farmers, "If you want a livestock market in the area, it is important you now confirm you are prepared to become an owner, and more importantly, that you are prepared to invest in the project.

"The ideal situation would be for the market to be owned by 300 to 400 shareholders."

At the meeting on Thursday, farmers were asked to back one of three options for the market's future.

Option one was to continue to oppose Aldi's bid for a store on the current site while option two was to provide support for Aldi if its £500,000 was guaranteed.

Option three, HMAG's preferred choice, was to urge Aldi to both resubmit its plans for a store and at the same time submit a new application for the A22 site, with a guarantee it would not build on the existing site until the new one was up and running.

HMAG chairman Phil Hook warned the farmers they could lose the market completely unless it moved to a new home.

He said, "If we don't get this new market now it could be goodbye to Hailsham cattle market forever.

"I ask you to back this as far as you can."

Farmers voted as they left the meeting and while the final result is not yet confirmed, Cllr White told the Gazette this week there was 'overwhelming' backing for option three.

HMAG has been working to relocate the market since Aldi purchased the Hailsham Cattle Market Company three years ago.

Aldi's bid to build a store on the current site was rejected in November and its appeal will be heard later this year.