A double-decker red bus was to have been used for the event last Friday and Saturday to focus on a multi-million pound regeneration masterplan for the town centre.

But the bus crashed in the Darley Dale area of Dertbyshire on its way to Hucknall and ended up in a garage, awaiting repairs.

Instead, taking the view that the show must go on, the organisers hastily put up a small marquee to house the display material.

But this needed to be used not only as a viewing-point but also as a shelter from two heavy downpours last Friday.

The masterplan has been prepared by URBED, a Manchester-based firm of urban designers and planners, who were commissioned for the job by Ashfield District Council.

Shruti Parikh, of URBED, said the firm had borne in mind a general view that trade had been drawn away from town-centre shops by the arrival of Tesco on Station Road.

She added: "Rather than Tesco taking the trade away, we need to create an anchor and a hub that would try to regenerate the town."

The proposals need to fit around long-standing plans for Hucknall's inner bypass and pedestrianisation for part of High Street.

The display focused on three areas of the town centre – Piggins Croft, High Street and the proposed inner bypass, together with Station Road.

URBED have prepared minimum, medium and maximum options for all three areas.

The maximum one would include a 'gateway' development next to the railway station on the grounds that the present layout makes it difficult for strangers to find the town centre.

Other ideas are a heritage centre on Portland Road, a revamped Byron Bingo Hall, new shops, bars and a health centre.

Ms Parikh claimed that the somewhat run-down Piggins Croft area was.thought to be especially in need of attention.

The medium and maximum suggestions for this site include new development for the site that houses the Dispatch Office!

But Ms Parikh said nothing was "written in stone" and the views of residents and businesses would be what shaped the final masterplan.

Amanda Stevenson, of West Street, Hucknall, said specialist shops were the biggest need to revive the town centre.

Her view was backed by Doreen Newton, of Westville, who thought a food store should be opened at the Market Place end of High Street.

The Rev Vanessa Hollingworth, minister of Hucknall's Seymour Road Baptist Church, said she was all for town-centre improvements.

"But I don't think the inner-bypass, which would cut the town centre off and come out at Tesco, is likely to help at all," she claimed.