ALTERNATIVE plans to regenerate the dilapidated fish market in Newlyn will be submitted in January, the harbour commission promised this week.
The authority has allowed itself three months to produce a business plan which it hopes will help secure funding from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and Cornwall Council.
The so-called Plan B includes a scaled down version of the current fish market proposal to better suit the needs of the catching sector.
Gilbert McCabe, chairman of the commissioners, said: "I have spoken to the EFF and Cornwall Council and they said with this business plan they expect us to return.
"We need to submit our wish list by January for the next EFF grant panel meeting which takes place in March.
"This will be the best landing port along this coast but the end date for the project will be several years away."
Projects
A spokesman for The Marine Management Organisation confirmed that grant money may still be available for a different project in Newlyn. But he reiterated that any new grant funding offer must be match funded. He said: "The money will now go back in the pot for other projects in Cornwall.
"Newlyn Harbour Commissioners are able to put together a new business plan and apply for a grant if they so wish as long as there is money in the pot."
The (EFF) grant scheme is open until 2013.
Mr McCabe said the absence of a business plan was the key failure in taking the plan forward. He said that without one it would have been difficult to attract investment from the private business sector.
Vice-chairman of the board Ray Tovey added that a recent e-mail from Cornwall Council confirmed that the authority would have undertaken its own health check before granting a loan.
In a letter read out at the meeting the council stated that, without W Stevenson and Sons on board, the market would not be viable and the commission would have had to finalise a firm agreement with them – without that the risk would have been too high to lend the money.
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