It is projects not plans that are needed to attract big funding to Helston.

This was the view of one councillor last week when the town council met to talk about what could be done in light of Helston missing out on millions of pounds worth of grants again.

Last month it was revealed that Camborne, Penzance, Truro and St Ives will be receiving up to £25 million each, as part of the government's latest bid to kickstart local economies.

At the time, MP Derek Thomas said he was hopeful more investment could be found for Helston, "once some clear priorities have been established."

He went on to say that the advantage the other towns had was they were Business Improvement Districts (BID) and had completed neighbourhood plans that set out a direction of the future.

Raising this before the town council on Thursday, member Dave Potter said: "Local politicians said perhaps it would be more fruitful if we had a plan or clear objectives. We don't have in this town a neighbourhood plan. It got me thinking, what plans do we have and what do we need to be successful with Cornwall Council?"

Mr Potter went on to list a number of existing plans, including the Helston Climate Action Plan, South Kerrier Alliance Strategy, Helston Town Council Strategy and emergency plan almost completed.

He said a neighbourhood plan was about the principles of future planning, but Helston already had a lot of building work underway and said: "I suggest in the boundaries of Helston we don't have much more space available."

As a result he did not believe this was the right way to go, given the amount of time they took to write - often years.

"Plans are all well and good, but only if they come to something tangible. It is delivery of projects that really make a tangible difference to the community in which we live," he added.

Town clerk Chris Dawson suggested: "Maybe the way forward is to select some projects from all the plans we already have and get those projects developed to a point where we're ready to apply for funding?"

He said Maxine Hardy, Helston's community link officer at Cornwall Council, had offered to speak with councillors and it was agreed to meet with her next month for further advice.

Helston's Cornwall councillors on the town council, Mike Thomas and John Martin, also objected to any suggestion that council officers were not giving Helston proper attention. 

Mr Thomas said: "They were quite shocked that an MP made that kind of comment. It's quite clear we have engagement with Cornwall Council officers."