MAJOR changes could be in the pipeline for Tavistock?s Goose Fair, following calls to rethink or even scrap the annual event.

The challenges were issued by business people attending a public meeting last week, organised by the town council.

Barry Wright, who owns three shops in Tavistock, called on the council to consider scrapping the fair.

Mr Wright said: ?Has any thought been given to the independent traders of this town as to who actually benefits from this fair?

?I find it necessary to close three businesses for one day and suffer extremely poor trading for the rest of the week. I think money is being taken away from the town.?

Mr Wright said it was ?totally wrong? to disregard the traders who worked in the town 365 days a year.

?I think the whole issue has to be addressed in a different way. I don?t think crime is the problem, it?s eating in shops, dirty fingers on expensive clothing, unruly children and breakages. It doesn?t happen on Dickensian night ? that?s good, it attracts the right people into the town.?

Retailer Mary Thompson said: ?I don?t think any of us are critical of Plymouth Road ? that is Goose Fair, that?s one day of the week.

?What we are all concerned with is the taking over of the car park for the whole week ? that?s the thing that should be moved, so we can have a car park and carry on trading properly.?

Mrs Thompson suggested the funfair could be set up in the Meadows ? although the grass would be damaged, it would recover, she said.

Businessman Robert Armstrong said the showmen did spend money in Tavistock during the time they were in the town ? he agreed using the Bedford and the Wharf car parks was a major problem and asked if Riverside car park could be opened up for shoppers on Goose Fair day, instead of being restricted to traders.

?I would personally like to see all the tat stalls disappear ? I?ve nothing against the showmen at all,? he said.

Margaret Hurdwell, managing director of the Wharf, said: ?We have never closed but we still don?t make enough on Goose Fair day to cover what we lose throughout the week.

?We had two food stalls right outside for the whole week ? it?s very hard to feel good about it.?

Ian Jenkins, of the Goose Fair best value scrutiny committee, said the fair appeared to have far more fast food retailers per 100 stalls than many other similar events elsewhere.

He wanted to see more local food producers and enterprises and space for the farmers? market at the fair.

?I feel it would certainly give Tavistock a more welcoming feel if we were able to localise it more, rather than have the situation where it?s the same sort of fair that appears everywhere else,? said Captain Jenkins.

He said if the quality of stalls was raised and balanced better with the number of food stalls, it would attract ?the right sort of people? to Tavistock, who were more likely to spend their money in the town?s shops.

Cllr Robin Pike, who chaired the meeting, said the siting and layout of the fair was limited, given Tavistock?s geographical position in a steep-sided valley.

He said the committee appreciated the concerns expressed and would be ?taking them on board?, if necessary delaying the final report of the scrutiny group.