A PUBLIC consultation is to be launched following the closure of a bike track in a public park to find out what people really want from the site.

At a meeting of Falmouth Town Council's finance and general purposes committee on Monday night, councillors voted to find out what people would like to see in Trescobeas Park.

The vote came after the council admitted it had made a mistake trying to resurface the cycle pump track in the park which had resulted in it being closed.

Falmouth Packet:

Repairs to the pump track in Trescobeas Park left it unusable

While £4,000 was spent on the repairs, councillors wanted to find out what people actually wanted to see in the park before they spent more money on it.

Committee chair Jude Robinson said the council knew it had made a mistake and wanted to put things right, but wanted to know what people really wanted from the site first.

"We know where we are with this," she said. "We know we made a mistake and we want to put it right.

"The willingness and the eagerness to put it right is there, there's not any dispute about that. I hope we can go forward together with this because making it a conflict is not going to find us a solution."

She said if there was a short term solution to the problem they should look for it.

Falmouth Packet:

Cllr Dave Saunby, Cornwall councillor for Trescobeas ward, said money spent on the repairs should be taken out of the town council's general fund and put back in the Trescobeas pot.

"It's our mistake and we accept that mistake we need to put it right," he said. "The track is a much used venue for everybody.

"The money that is involved in putting this right, I think, is quite small in regards to the town council's overall budget. It's a small amount I believe we have to pay in the whole scheme of things."

Falmouth Packet:

Deputy mayor Kirstie Edwards said it was definitely an amenity that should be saved, but there were a lot of issues up there.

"So I think we really need to consider how the space is used by the people that use it," she said.

"So I think that by consulting with the families who live up there and the children that go and use the spaces is really important and I think to also have some sort of consultation with the schools as well.

"Definitely an opportunity there, but if we are going to throw a lot of money at it we're going to have to make sure it works for the community."

Mayor Steve Eve agreed saying: "There's no point in spending any money on this until we know what the people want."