A NEW MULTI-MILLION pound cinema complex in Hayle could finally kick-start the long-awaited regeneration of the town, according to a group of local social entrepreneurs.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend Hayle Pioneerium brought a mobile 3D digital cinema to the town centre for five days to demonstrate the benefits such an attraction could provide for local businesses, residents and visitors alike.

They hope that within the next two years a permanent cinema based at Foundry Square will give the town a much-needed boost.

The plans have been supported by ING, who helped fund the Screen Machine mobile cinema and are now looking to carry out a feasibility study into a new cinema complex.

Chairman of the trust, Bob Amos, is confident that the group, which was only set up in March this year, will be able to "kill two birds with one stone".

He said: "We want to bring a cinema to the town and kick-start the regeneration of Hayle.

"We have a fairly high population of some 100,000 people living within a 15-mile radius of the town and Hayle is only second to Newquay because of its many campsites for visitors.

"But all these visitors tend to exodus from Hayle to visit places such as the Tate in St Ives or the Maritime Museum in Falmouth, because we do not have a cinema, galleries, or even an indoor swimming pool. We want to provide visitors with somewhere to spend their holiday money in town."

The trustees hope that the complex, which they believe would cost several million pounds, could be realised by 2012. Funding will be sought from public and private sectors as well as donations.

The complex would be owned and run by the community with all the profits poured back into the development and benefit of the town.

Mr Amos continued: "The town does not have a social hub. With our plans we could have a two or three-screen cinema, restaurant or bistro and even a climbing wall for the younger generation. All this would provide other sources of revenue and keep it profitable all year round.

"The smallest screen could even be used for conferences, exhibitions and product launches.

"We are looking for an opportunity and hopefully, as things move forward, that opportunity will open up for us."

An ING spokesman said: "As part of our plans for the harbour we intend to seek permission for a cinema on South Quay. We would like this to be a digital cinema that could either be two or three screens. We have been talking to the Pioneerium team since early July and we were delighted with the Screen Machine and we were pleased to assist with a significant amount of financial support.

"We will be undertaking a feasibility study into cinema in Hayle but feel confident that there is support within the town to make a cinema a reality.

"We will be unveiling plans for the cinema and the Phase 1 regeneration plans shortly."

Howard Lyons, visiting fellow of the university business schools in Exeter and Sheffield and a member of the Pioneerium project, added: "The coalition Government's championing of community-based enterprise trusts is central to Hayle's Pioneerium proposals.

"The support of harbour owners ING for the Screen Machine cinema visit demonstrates their sympathy for such enterprises, which are designed to retain profits in local communities and provide towns like Hayle with the otherwise unachievable task of keeping the control of new assets with locals.

"Hayle has some great new digital businesses and a digital cinema able to showcase their work and that of the exciting developments in local schools and colleges would put Hayle back into the centre of the latest industrial revolution, just as it was central to the first industrial revolution."