And with 20 premises lying empty in Grangemouth's La Porte Precinct as the economic downturn tightens its grip on the country, there have been calls for the town's regeneration to go ahead as quickly as possible.

The business owners say something must be done to end a downward spiral.

All four Grangemouth councillors attended the emergency meeting with traders and town centre management to discuss the situation.

Councillor Robert Spears said: "Various issues arose from that meeting – one being that it is extremely important to attract more people into our town centre. That's where events like the Grangemouth Homecoming Music Festival come in. That is growing week by week and attracting more people to the town."

Other efforts to maintain trading during the economic downturn have included a special workshop for the retail community which was held in Grangemouth Town Hall.

The revised multi-million pound regeneration plan, which was agreed last year after public consultation, include a 50,000 square foot foodstore, new library and museum, new council offices in York Square, revamped shops and shopping precinct areas and better traffic management.

Councillor Spears said he thought the regeneration would have started by now.

"It seems to be on hold – so we need to keep our focus on that and get Falkirk Council to begin work as soon as possible. We need to do everything we can to keep the shops here open.

"I've been accused of scaremongering in the past, saying Grangemouth could turn into a ghost town if we don't do something, but I just told people what I saw happening – and it will happen if we don't do something now."

Jim Waugh, owner of La Porte Precinct's Party Daze, said: "Falkirk Council has been trying to help, putting a lot of measures in place – they haven't been sitting idle.

''There are a lot of rumours the regeneration is not going to happen – it definitely is going to go ahead, we just need to make the town a more pleasant place to attract customers and businesses while we await the regeneration.

"We heard it would be at least another three years before work started and we don't want to be sitting back doing nothing in the meantime, just waiting for it to happen."

Some of the ideas discussed included proposals to remove trees running down the middle of La Porte Precinct.

"Traders are paying high street prices to be there,, but their shops are invisible because of the trees,'' said Mr Waugh.

Moves to put a council officer in charge of the vacant shops, with the task of attracting new businesses to the premises, were also discussed.

Mr Waugh said: "The councillors said they would bring these issues up at the council, but that won't happen until they get back to business after the summer recess."