STREET traders in Newport's John Frost Square face an uncertain future as the city council considers banning them from their current site.

Ambitious plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Kingsway Centre have forced the council to reconsider the role of street businesses pitched in the square.

One option, described as "a radical step" in a council report, is the removal of street traders from the square and from the rest of the city.

Three traders - providing baked potatoes, fruit and veg, and doughnuts - currently use the square, generating an income of £23,000 a year for the council's Public Protection Group.

Kieron Land, of Cardiff, has run Mr Pickwick's potato stand for 17 years and he vowed to fight any move to stop his business working in Newport.

He said: "This is my main business and I couldn't go anywhere else. If I leave here I will have to go on the dole.

"The council moved me here from Commercial Street in January when they refurbished that, and I was under the impression that we would be going back when it finished, but now it doesn't look like we will."

Barbara Powrie, who runs a doughnut stall, said that after ninth months of uncertainty she had refused to pay this quarter's rent in protest.

She said: "I have already lost income from being moved from Commercial Street to the square. Now if they stop issuing licences I will lose my business.

"It's a bit strange considering Gwent are trying to put people back into jobs.

"If we were taken into consideration in the redevelopment of Commercial Street, then there would be room. If there are to be no street traders, where will the council get the lost income from?"

The traders were meeting council representatives yesterday for talks.

A council spokeswoman said: "This is very much under discussion. Cabinet members will hear the recommendations of the traders.

"With the planned redevelopments of the city centre we have to work with street traders to devise a sensible solution."