Calls have been made to shut down the Helston Business Improvement Partnership “with immediate effect” over concerns about how funds have been used.

Town councillor Ronnie Williams made his shock suggestion in front of a packed meeting of Helston Town Council, after questioning its effectiveness.

He told councillors: “I am not happy with the money spent and the results we’re getting. No way.

“My view is, with immediate effect, this organisation is closed down.”

His comments came after deputy mayor Mark Upton called for any money yet to be spent by the organisation to be returned to the council and the different projects be asked to reapply for funds.

HBIP, as it is commonly known, was set up in May 2012, made up of volunteers from the town’s businesses. Its aim was to improve both the look of the town and its footfall, plus promote Helston to the rest of the county and beyond.

Since then it has been behind a number of projects, including reintroducing the weekly markets, a mass tidy of the town, and a hanging basket project that this year won two awards at the Cornwall In Bloom Awards.

To date these projects and the running of HBIP have been funded through money given by Tesco and Sainsbury’s when they built new stores in Helston, which the town council controls and distributes to HBIP in response to requests.

Accounts released to the town council this week show a number of planned projects remain in the pipeline.

It was these figures that raised questions with some councillors, and prompted Mr Upton to call for the return of the funds.

He did acknowledge, however, that aside from a “massive overspend” on design and printing, the money had been spent “in good faith, on improving conditions in this town.”

Ronnie Williams went further, saying: “This council is basically responsible for the money. I’ve looked at this and been waiting for months for breakdowns of how money has been spent.

“I look at this now from a business angle. I am not happy with the money spent and all the results we’re getting.”

He claimed by shutting the down HBIP the money could be “clawed back” and possibly be used to bring down business rates for existing shops and attract new ones.

He also wanted to see if the money could be used to offer free parking in the town, by reimbursing Cornwall Council’s expected revenue.

“I think this organisation/company has not performed as I would like to have seen,” added Mr Williams of HBIP.

Mayor Mike Thomas described what was being proposed as “a serious reflection on where we’re at” and called for advice from town clerk Chris Dawson.

Mr Dawson urged caution, describing it as a “completely out of the blue suggestion,” and saying: “In my view you cannot ask the organisation to return grants that have been given in good faith. Not without trying to work with them first.”

Councillor John Boase said he had “similar feelings” to Mr Upton, but believed the matter should be delayed until the next meeting to give a chance for HBIP members to attend and the concerns be discussed in public.

Martine Knight agreed, saying there were “many of us around this table that have issues”.

It was unanimously agreed to delay any decisions on issues of funding of HBIP until the December meeting of the council.

Since the meeting Wendy Radford-Gaby and Andy Perry, co chairs of HBIP, have issued an open letter to Mr Upton, saying: “We have to admit that we are shocked at your proposal ‘to immediately return all the monies currently unspent by the Helston Business Improvement Partnership and return to Helston Town Council’ – with no apparent basis or reason for this request.

“Fortunately and entirely sensibly, no other councillor supported your proposal, but the negative message you have conveyed, given your public responsibilities as the deputy mayor, councillor and chairman of the Epworth Hall Committee, is in our view an insult to all those volunteers who work with HBIP so incredibly hard for the prosperity of this town.”

They said that of the £825,268 windfall from Tesco's and Sainsbury's, HBIP was allocated £191,650 to run the various projects to help mitigate the effects of out of town supermarkets.

However, the organisation had also raised more than £26,000 in membership, fundraising activities and winning £10,000 from central Government through its efforts to apply for funding via Mary Portas’s initiatives.

Mrs Radford-Gaby and Mr Perry plan to request, through the mayor, an informal meeting with the town council to discuss the current joint efforts and plans for the near future.

The co-chairs added: “May we suggest that you put aside any personal feelings you may have of HBIP and think about Helston as a whole in our joint effort to encourage Helston’s economic prosperity.”

They made no reference to Mr Williams’ comments, as it was not a formal proposal.