Falmouth's Prince of Wales Pier should be refurbished before it falls apart, a leading businessman said this week.

Various schemes have been on the cards for the waterfront for more than 30 years and the latest to be put forward is not expected to go ahead - if it gets off the ground at all - until sufficient private funding has been found.

The pier is a vital part of the regeneration plans and a group of leading businessmen says action must be taken immediately to refurbish it rather than waiting for the full programme to proceed.

The group has put forward ideas for the restoration of the pier to members of the Falmouth Infrastructure Group, made up of leading councillors and prominent members of the community.

This week the group, led by Tim Light, managing director of the King Harry Ferry, who is also responsible for operating a number of boats from the pier, was due to meet with town mayor Roger Bonney in an attempt to take the scheme forward at a quicker pace.

Mr Light told the Packet that he and others had been "rather grumpy" that Carrick "seemed to be incapable or unable" to start the much-needed regeneration of the waterfront.

He had now read in detail the latest full report on the regeneration of Falmouth's waterfront which had been commissioned by Carrick council from consultants Terrance O'Rourke. Whilst agreeing the ideas were "laudable and sensible" it all hinged on what he described as the "domino effect" with the lead domino being the Church Street car park.

If that was shunted into the "all too difficult box" and the potential changes to local government further delayed action, pressure should be applied to get some action now at least on the pier, he said.

He and others involved hoped to obtain sufficient enthusiasm locally to start a process that looked at the current state of the pier and a possible route for improvement. That involved getting people such as the Carrick harbour master Andy Brigden and Fred Greenslade, Carrick's maritime portfolio holder, on board.

"I believe that this is important to start off as partners with a shared aim rather than attempting to hold them to account," said Mr Light.

It is then hoped to target local people, organisations and others and hold meetings to seek their views. That would get under way in the spring and others brought in including the civic and conservation societies, and local councillors.

"We will then send out about 100 invitations with a Prince of Wales pier past present and future type layout with pictures, laying out our aims to improve the public realm on the pier," said Mr Light.

It was hoped to get local schools involved by asking pupils to provide visuals of the ideas.

Mr Light has set the ball rolling by sorting out funding through the Fal River Links in which he is involved.

"We need to champion the cause working on the principle that while the whole water front development may take another 20 years, we can make a really practical start by sorting out the hub of the water front," he added.

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