Helston town councillors are calling for an urgent meeting to discuss details of a proposed £800,000 re-vamp of Coronation Park.

Plans for the work have been drawn up, but members of the council feel there are major outstanding issues still to be resolved and a public meeting may need to be held before the diggers move onto the site. Helston businessman Mike Lemon, who runs the caf and skate park at Coronation Lake, has voiced a number of concerns about the project, which is being funded by Kerrier district council's Liveability scheme.

Addressing town councillors, Mr Lemon said the proposed toilet facilities were "less than adequate", while a drastic reduction in the amount of parking available made little sense when the re-vamp was expected to attract more people to the area. He also expressed concern at the design of the new caf, saying the existing building was regularly targeted by vandals and using so much glass in the replacement would only exacerbate the problem.

In conclusion, he acknowledged that the plans for the new, partially-covered, skate park were "brilliant", but said it made little sense to demolish the existing facility, move it some 50 yards and then re-build, at an estimated cost of upwards of £200,000.

Town councillors said the current proposals appeared to bear little relation to what was originally planned for the park. Niall Devenish said the scheme was "unrecognisable" from what had been shown during the public consultation exercise.

"I accept that not every proposal is going to come to fruition but this is a completely different beast to what I saw at the consultation evening," he said.

Keith Reynolds agreed, adding that he felt the whole project had been mishandled "right from the start". He said some aspects of the proposed design were unacceptable and a meeting with Liveability officers was urgently needed to address outstanding issues. If matters could not be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, a public meeting should be held.

Work on the planned improvements is due to begin towards the end of next month.

Tenders have yet to be submitted and Liveability officers have acknowledged the sums involved will determine exactly how much of the work can be carried out. Some planned improvements have already been put on hold, but it is hoped that follow-up funding from other sources will allow the entire scheme to be implemented in phases.

Liveability co-ordinator Stuart Wallace insisted the project would be of great benefit to the town. "These plans have been developed following extensive consultation," he said. "The improvements will make a striking difference to Helston as a revitalised, community open space and an attractive southern gateway to the town."