Cornwall Council says it is seeking interest in new commercial concessions for traders at the entrance to the coach park in Gyllyngvase Beach car park, land which it owns.

The matter was brought before Falmouth Town Council’s finance and general purposes committee on Monday night after a referral from the planning committee.

The proposal came to the planning committee for consultation but it was told that now pop-up concessions don’t need to be consulted on.

“The feeling of the planning committee was basically that they didn’t want it but didn’t have a method to feed back so asked for it to be put on the agenda,” said committee chair Jude Robinson.

Cllr Steve Eva, chair of planning and licensing, told the Packet it came to them, and they weren’t happy with it.

“The bit that confuses me I read in the Packet today that the concession in a Helston car park which is allowed to sell food but the Falmouth one doesn’t,” he said.

“I just wondered what the difference was? Whether this one was because the Gyllyngvase café didn’t want it to sell food?

“But I think it’s ridiculous, we’re supposed to be putting through devo [devolution] to Cornwall Council and this would be one of the car parks they give us and if they did give it to us we’d have a load of pop-up stalls on there and we wouldn’t be able to use it to raise money.

“I’m still against it at this meeting. I think it’s money grabbing by Cornwall Council.”

The meeting was told that Cornwall Council councillor for the area Laurie Magowan had been consulted and had made it clear that he was not very happy with it as well as Falmouth Bay Residents Association.

Cllr Jude Robinson proposed from the chair to let Cornwall Council know they were not happy about it and the council would rather be consulted in the future about such decisions and should go to the committee.

“I think people want to go to the beach without being constantly pestered to buy stuff from a concession there,” she said.

“If it’s not food what’s it going to be? Plastic body boards and beach toys that are going to be taken on the beach and then thrown away once people have finished with them. So, if we don’t have any input into that we can’t stop it happening.”

Cornwall Council says it is seeking interest in new commercial concessions for traders on land it owns across the county.

The tenders will be for either one or two years and will commence on April 5, 2025.

The council says the aim of this scheme is to encourage more users to Cornwall Council’s assets, provide opportunities for new and existing businesses to trade without being tied into long-term leases and to raise funds to help protect and maintain Cornwall’s open spaces.

It says the high scoring of sustainability and environment has been key for the projects supporting the wider community, running beach cleans and charity events, whilst promoting and protecting the environment.

Higher marks are awarded for initiatives such as plastic-free, green energy on site, use of local produce, and re-use of waste, such as used coffee beans as fertilizer for local gardens.