Hundreds if not thousands of people visiting the fairground next Flora Day will have to negotiate their way past two-way traffic after a decision was taken not to pay for a road closure.

Porthleven Road is always one of the busiest areas of the town on Flora Day, particularly during the afternoon when there is a break in the dancing.

Swarms of visitors, including families with young children, flock to the Fairground Car Park opposite Coronation Lake – so named because of its long association with hosting the fair on Flora Day – to enjoy the rides and take a leisurely stroll along the various stalls and food vans.

Come the evening this area is the centre of the entertainment, with revellers – many of them slightly worse for wear after a day of celebrating with alcohol – filling the road.

Normally Porthleven Road, running alongside Coronation Park, is closed to traffic from the roundabout from 5.30am on Flora Day through to around midnight, to ensure the safety of those going to and from the fair and visiting the stalls.

However, at a meeting of Helston Town Council’s amenities committee members decided not to pay for a road closure next year.

The decision came after hearing that only five traders had pitches along this road during this year's event, with town clerk Chris Dawson advising that this "did not warrant the expense of the road closure and staff time."

He also told members that encouraging stallholders to trade on the Porthleven Road was proving difficult because of the midnight road closure due to the fair.

A majority vote was then taken in favour of that road no longer being used as part of the Flora Day street market from 2017 - which will indirectly result in no road closure.

Only councillor Ronnie Williams asked for his name to be recorded as voting against this proposal.

Mayor Gillian Geer then suggested putting up barriers along the curbside, between the Penventon

View junction and Flora Motors, to separate pedestrians from the traffic.

Chairman of the amenities committee Jonathan Radford-Gaby told the Helston Packet this week: "I think there is a degree of responsibility that people have got to take and that's the way we have seen it.

"If you have had too much to drink, you have had too much to drink. Equally, if you're driving into Helston on Flora Day evening you need to be aware that there has been a major annual festival, where there are likely to be a number of people, possibly crossing the road in not the straightest of lines.

"There's responsibility on everybody's side."

He said the idea was to not have any stalls in Porthleven Road at the next Flora Day and instead move them to the bottom of Monument Road, where the number of traders had also been decreasing in recent years, and which would still have a closure order in place.

This would make it possible for pedestrians to use the pavement in Porthleven Road, which is usually taken up with trade vans.

"There is more than enough of the footpath to accommodate people going to and from the fairground," added Mr Radford-Gaby.

"It's very expensive to put the road closures in place; they have to be manned now, and if you're going to have to man the road closure you have to provide a loo and pay for the person."

However, Cornwall councillor Andrew Wallis said he would be writing to both town clerk Chris Dawson and the county's highways department to "highlight concerns" about not closing a road that he described as "a busy road everyday, let alone on Flora Day."