Traders are furious about plans to convert a former museum into an indoor shopping area.

They fear the scheme will reduce trade and could force some established shops out of business.

Allerdale council is planning to take over The Cars of the Stars building in Standish Street, Keswick, and convert it into 20 retail units.

Maggie Lambert, who owns the Present Moment gift shop in the town, raised the issue with the town council.

She said: “I had heard there were plans for the building to be converted into a shopping area.

“The last thing Keswick needs is 20 more shops.”

Former dentist Peter Nelson owns the building which was home to his vehicle display.

He built up a fleet of 25 original cars from James Bond films to television shows such as Only Fools and Horses and Batman over a period of 30 years.

Most of the collection was sold to an American in 2011. Since then, the building has stood empty.

Three years ago Mr Nelson applied to convert the building into shops but nothing came of the move.

Mrs Lambert said: “The borough council is looking for small boutique shops like mine to go in there and they will put us out of business. Allerdale don’t care, they just want money.

“I understand that they need money to balance the books but they also work for us.

“If this goes ahead, there will be a lot of shops in Keswick that will close.”

Roy Johnson owns the Special Expressions jewellers on Main Street and is chairman of the Keswick Retailers Association, which will discuss the issue this week.

He said: “Whether or not the best use of this building is for retail units, I would not like to say.

“What is baffling is that Allerdale has no money for this or that and it is withdrawing services, making people redundant and imposing pay freezes but they seem to find money to invest in retail.”

It is not known how much it will cost to make the building suitable for use by the shop units but some estimates are as high as £200,000.

Allerdale is looking to rent the building from Mr Nelson and then sub-let to traders.

Joe Broomfield, Keswick town centre manager for Allerdale, stressed that the scheme is only a plan.

He said: “We have an architect working on it and we are seeing if it stacks up in terms of rental costs for the units and capital renovation costs.

“It is purely option-gathering at the moment.

“The idea is for incubator business units, it certainly will not be an indoor market.

“I would like to see an empty building brought back into use.

“In Keswick there are very few empty units and we have a waiting list for the market.”

Mrs Lambert added: “Keswick desperately needs some youth facilities and this is the perfect place.”

“We have to do something, if we just sit back and do nothing, Allerdale will say ‘they are not interested’. I would like my shop to stay open.”