TELEVISION presenter Selina Scott has criticised Malton businesses for failing to take up the opportunity to create a Dickensian festival in the town.

Ms Scott said a rare signed edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, bought for Malton, would now on show at a festival in the Dales this weekend, after shopkeepers showed no interest in holding their own event.

“It goes without saying that the little book we bought at an auction in New York last year has placed Malton firmly on the Dickensian map and received worldwide coverage on national news bulletins,” she said.

“The town now has a golden opportunity to attract visitors and lead to an amazing transformation in its fortunes.

“This year, however, because Malton’s shopkeepers showed no interest when offered the opportunity, the book will instead take pride of place as the centre piece of a Dickensian festival in the Dales town of Grassington, which has no Dickensian connection but attracts 30,000 visitors at Christmas and has had to take over two quarries to cope with the cars and buses.”

Ms Scott, who opened her own shop, Selina Scott’s Socks, in The Shambles last week, said: “In Malton, meanwhile, Ryedale District Council is going ahead with the sale of Wentworth Street car park.

“If Malton’s councillors are at all interested in what they call ‘footfall’ in the town, they must think again.

“When Malton is on the cusp of attracting visitors in their thousands from around the world, selling off Wentworth Street would be a massive mistake.”

Dickens was a regular visitor to Malton where his best friend, Charles Smithson, lived. When Smithson died aged 39, Dickens attended his funeral in Malton and dedicated an early edition of A Christmas Carol to Mrs Smithson.

It is said that Dickens was inspired to base Scrooge’s Counting House on Smithson’s office in Chancery Lane, in Malton.

Ms Scott has recently recorded an audio version of A Christmas Carol to raise funds for Dickens Gift to Yorkshire, the charity set up to manage the signed edition. “After years of hearing how one of the most iconic novels in the English language, A Christmas Carol, was actually based on the market town of Malton, I wanted to capture on tape, as my gift to the town, the spirit of one of the most wonderful Christmas stories in the world,” she said.

Charity trustee Clair Challenor- Chadwick said they were planning to raise funds to create education and arts-led initiatives with the University of York.

“For most of the year, the book is on public display at the University of York library and from as early as October goes ‘on tour’ around Yorkshire before returning to Malton on December 5 where it will be on display at the Yorkshire Building Society and then The Talbot Hotel,” she said.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, from the We Love Malton team, said: “As Malton has such a good connection with this eminent Victorian author, the town should celebrate its association with Dickens as much as possible.”

A Christmas Carol audio book, priced £10, is available from the Yorkshire Building Society and Selina Scott’s Socks in Malton, The Talbot Hotel, The Counting House and Castle Howard or online at www.dickensgifttoyorkshire.com