There has been lots of confusion over what will be happening with Church Street Car Park and some business owners have started to share their concerns.

This week we shared a post saying the council had agreed to the master plan in a meeting of the full council, although the council has accepted to adopt the strategy alongside the Neighbourhood plan, nothing has been agreed as of yet.

Back in October, Falmouth Town Council launched a website with five potential plans for the repurposing of the site.

You can follow the link above for more information about the plans or visit the website here: Options & FAQs | Church St Waterfront.

At the time there many people asked why it couldn't remain a car park, in response to that the then deputy mayor and now current mayor Kirstie Edwards explained that Cornwall Council would only devolve the site to Falmouth Town Council if it was no longer a car park.

Kirstie also added when announcing the website: "It's worth noting keeping it as a car park goes against the pedestrian priority and environmental/sustainable aspirations the Falmouth Neighbourhood Development Plan has for the future of Falmouth High Street. Which was voted in overwhelmingly in favour last year."

When speaking to Jayne Kirkham, a local councillor and member of the Falmouth Place Shaping Board (Falmouth Town Centre - Cornwall Council), earlier today (29 June) she explained that nothing has yet been decided.

Jayne said that other towns have received funding for projects and in order for Falmouth to receive any it was suggested that they have an 'oven ready' plan.

Although the car park has become a key issue, Jayne says other things that have happened in the town like losing Ships & Castles may change the town's priorities, so if money did become available it would be up to the people of Falmouth to decide what it would be used for.

It seems that although the council has agreed to take on board the strategy or master plan, nothing has been agreed and there will still be more meetings in the next few weeks to discuss any potential ideas.

Jonathon Pay who runs The Wool Basket, on 4 Church Street, feels that completely losing the car park with be a disaster, he said; "We've been here almost 50 years and have always known that for events, while fantastic for the people of Falmouth are terrible for businesses.

"50 people turned up at the last meeting but the councillors seemed very determined not to listen! If you walk into any shop in town, they will all tell you that closing the car park is an awful idea. It seems that they have already decided it though.

"They have 8 or 9 plans for it and all of them include it closing. Their justifications are the pollution of cars going down the street and safety of pedestrians. Neither of which seem significant enough for the impact it will cause.

"Pedestrianisation has killed other towns and we are terrified that, while businesses are already in a bad situation, it will do it to us too. Their response is to point out the events they put on. I spoke to a bunch of businesses this week and they all had an awful weekend because of Force's Day, events are terrible for shops."

Jonathon also shared with Nub News that a poll was taken of business owners in Market Street and Church Street and 90% of people wanted it to stay as a car park, however, Jonathon felt the council would still plough ahead with the plans.

Councillor Dean Evans, who has championed the reduction of cars in town, also felt that there wasn't enough discussion over the issue and there needed to be more alternatives offered if people were going to accept any changes.