The South West Regional Development Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has agreed to pay the required £400,000.

Architects Pringle Richards and Sharrat have been working with Newlyn Harbour Commissioners and an advisory group from the Newlyn Fish Industry Forum (NFIF) to complete the outline plans by September.

If the plans are accepted building could start by the end of 2008.

Micheal Galsworthy, chairman of the NFIF, which was set up to deliver a regeneration strategy, said that despite uncertainty in the fishing industry caused by reductions in fish quotas, there were still grounds for optimism.

"We have already achieved a huge amount by working together as a community and as an industry," he said.

"The NFIF has always been an inclusive body and that is our great strength. It is vital we keep our focus as we enter this next important phase."

Money earned in Newlyn underpins a large part of the economy in west Cornwall. Even with falling catches of fish, the port has access to one of the richest fishing grounds in the Atlantic.

article copyright THE CORNISHMAN 

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