Helston Town Council is to combat falling Flora Day revenues by charging food sellers more for their pitch while charging charities and local organisations less.

New rules decided by the council's amenities committee will also see traders restricted to one stall, covering a maximum of three pitches, in an effort to keep a variety of traders and prevent Coinagehall Street becoming monopolised.

At a meeting on Thursday, the committee was presented with a report by town clerk Chris Dawson, which looked at the decline in the number of traders attending Flora Day and the predominance of fast food outlets.

The town clerk told councillors: "Over recent years there has been a decline in the numbers of traders attending and the majority oft hose that do attend are fast food outlets."

He added that along falling trader numbers, there are more arduous regulations, and higher costs associated with security and generator hire.

He added: "Whilst the income from the street market is in decline, it should be stressed that it does still make a surplus to offset other expenditure when calculating the annual precept.

The number of traders fell from 85 in 2013 to 81 in 2014, and then by almost a quarter to 65 this year, while over the same period the number of pitches went from 143 to 108.

Over that two year period, income from pitches and licences fell by just over £2,000 from £10,224 to £8,115, with an extra £30 taken in 2015 through charges for the new electricity feeder column. At the same time, expenditure on Flora Day rose from £2,445 to £2,927, meaning that the surplus the town takes from the day to supplement council tax income fell by more than £2,500 from £7,778 to £5,217.

The committee agreed to a sliding scale of charges for traders instead of a flat fee, which in 2015 was £68. Fast food sellers will now be charged £100 per pitch, with charities and non-profit groups such as local authorities and sports clubs charged £25, and all others, including crafts, homewares, media groups, clothing, and clairvoyants charged £50. All stalls would pay £12 for a street trading license of £12 and any needing electricity would pay an additional £5.

Following this year's Flora Day, which saw a Kelly's Ice Cream and a trader referred to by the council as 'a particular fast food trader' taking up a quarter of Coinagehall Street with two pitches and three stalls respectively, the council also agreed to limit the amount of space any company could have. Traders will now be restricted to one stall of a maximum three pitches.

To try and drum up more business, the committee also resolved to advertise for traders both nationally and locally, with an estimated cost of adverts in two national publications of £700.