THE spectacular Tallships are set for a return to Falmouth for a festival to be held in the late summer of 2014.

The news was confirmed by John Hick, chairman of the Falmouth Tallship Association, at a meeting of Falmouth Town Council on Monday evening.

According to race organisers Sail Training International, the ships are provisionally booked to return for a four day event in the town between Thursday, August 21 and Sunday, August 24, before heading off to Spain as part of a wider Iberian regatta.

Mr Hick told the meeting: “The next Tall Ship event here will be 2014, and it will be of a similar size to the event we held in 2008.

“We have agreed it all, we are just waiting for the Spanish ports to sign up now.

“As with all of the previous events we have run here, we rely on the support of A&P to be able to use their facilities to enable us to host this event.”

The last Tall Ships event to be held in Falmouth attracted tens of thousands of extra visitors to the town, with an estimated 130,000 people arriving to watch the final day of the regatta.

Mr Hick asked the council if they could offer financial support for the event, telling the meeting: “The Tall Ships event is good for the town, it is good publicity, and I would like you to start putting something aside now to help.

“To run the event we will need a budget of around £300,000, Cornwall Council are already committed to supporting us, and we will be looking to raise money from the private sector as well.”

Councillors were unanimously supportive of the event, with Allyson Biggins saying: “We will offer our 100 per cent support to the Tall Ships event.”

However, a second request by Mr Hick to ask the council to financially support the creation of new pontoon berths in the harbour to help secure was not as successful. Mr Hick told councillors that organisers had hoped to have the new structures funded and in place for the J-Class yacht regatta due to be held in the town in June.

However, that has not proved the case, and now a wider appeal is being issued to gain funding for the plans.

Mr Hick said: “If we have these facilities in place, then we have people expressing interest in bringing events here.”

However, councillors said they were unable to commit to funding any new structures given the current state of the economy and the need to be careful with their budgets.

The meeting was told that a Tall Ships event planned for 2013 had been cancelled.