There is no realistic prospect of Helston cattle market re-opening, local residents were told at a public meeting in the town.

The historic market has been closed for 18 months in the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak, but it had been hoped the centuries-old tradition could be revived.

Now the premises form part of ambitious plans to revamp the entire St Johns area of the town, but the multi-million-pound proposals do not appear to include a continued role for the market.

Consultants looking at future uses for the area claim usage had dropped to around 20 head of cattle a week and there is no significant demand to re-open the market.

But Helston auctioneer Ivor Mann, speaking at Wednesday's meeting, disputed the consultants' figures and said local farmers were keen to see the market reopen.

He claimed the only obstacle to achieving that goal was that Kerrier district council, which owns the market, would not pay for a fence required under the new regulations in the wake of foot and mouth.

"That market is viable," he said. "We do have to move forward, but I still believe there is some scope for a market in some shape or form."

Ted Caesley, secretary of Helston Fatstock Society, said Helston was a market town and a market, however small, was its life blood.

"If there was a small, up-to-date cattle market it would be used," he said. "It seems to me Kerrier have written it off already."

Local resident John Mitchell said Helston's "local distinctiveness" came from being a market town of 801 years' standing.

"You have to have a focal point and in a market town that is the market," he said. "That is what Helston is all about. Once the market is gone that is finished."

It was suggested that other uses could be found for the premises during the rest of the week to make the market a more viable proposition.

But Kerrier economic regeneration officer Andrew Lightfoot, who was presenting the consultants' findings, gave townspeople little reason to believe the market would ever reopen.

"I understand the attachment and the traditions associated with it but the economics are very different and that is what we have to look at in the future," he said.

"There will not be money to pump into that market to bring it up to the standard that is required. I cannot see a realistic future for it."

Views on the future of the market, as well as on the other proposals for St Johns, are being passed to the district council ahead of moves to commission a detailed study into the regeneration of the area.