A SHOWMAN is to receive a discount of £383 to compensate for lack of customers, following the cancellation of Barnard Castle Meet celebrations due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

It was not yet clear whether Mr Newsome still intended to hold the fair in the Galgate car park over the traditional Meet weekend, legal officer Miss Susan Porter told members of Teesdale District Council community services committee on Wednesday. He was still consulting with the showmen's guild.

Coun Phil Hughes felt that to charge him two thirds of the normal hire charge of £1,150 was reasonable if he did decide to come, as there would be fewer people in the town compared with previous years.

Coun John Watson said the fair was a commercial operation and it had had some very good years in the town. He thought Mr Newsome should pay the full fee. The charge was not excessive and the council had considerable financial difficulties of its own. Once they started making concessions for one that would be it. The fair was a business, not a charitable organisation. He suggested holding the charge.

Chairman Coun Ken Coates said it did bring a lot of people into the town and as a council, members should be doing all they could to attract visitors. If they did not reduce the fee, Mr Newsome might not come.

Coun Hughes said the fair would be a good barometer this year for gauging visitor numbers. If there was no Meet and people still came just for the fair it would be a good measure of how much of an attraction it was compared to the Meet itself.

Coun Raymond Gibson could vouch for the popularity of the Meet and fair - Evenwood on a normal Meet Monday was like a ghost town.

Members decided to waive a third of the £1,150 hire charge. They also agreed that, should Mr Newsome cancel, no charge be made, apart from the costs of advertising, as they would still get income from the car park if there was no fair on it.