Business owners in Keswick have called on the organisers of the town's annual Christian convention to change the dates of next year's event after it was revealed all three weeks were due to fall in Cumbria's school holidays.

About 30 people, including angry traders, packed a town council meeting and said businesses saw takings drop by between 20 and 90 per cent during the event.

Highlighting the importance of the six-week holidays to the town's takings, one business proprietor told Keswick Ministries' James Devenish: "Your business throttles our business."

Brian Price, of Price Walker Antiques, said the event hit his trade by 80 to 90 per cent, adding: "I'm sick to death of being dictated to by the convention's agenda. Any attempt to move the convention fully into the holidays is a selfish act by the multi-million-pound organisation."

In a letter to the council, Debbie Beament of Newlands Adventure Centre and Keswick Climbing Wall said: "I am very concerned that businesses, who should be making the most of the summer trade at this time, will be losing out on essential holiday business.

"Conventioners come to Keswick to go to the convention and don't spend their time doing outdoor activities or exploring what this amazing area offers."

Moving the convention fully into the school holidays would put jobs at risk, she added.

Keswick Convention usually starts the Saturday before English schools break up and continues for the first two weeks of the holidays.

But the 2018 event is due to begin on July 21, the day after term finishes in Cumbria and some other counties.

One trader urged convention organisers to plan dates based on local holidays, not national dates, adding: "That's when we make our money."

Mr Devenish, business director for the charity, told the council that the local school holiday dates had been changed since the dates were set.

He added: "We have no policy to move all the weeks into the holidays.

"It is our earnest desire that, where at all possible, we continue the pattern of the first week of the convention being not yet in the holidays."

Councillors urged the charity to consider moving the 2018 dates forward for the benefit of the town.

Councillor Tony Lywood said: "I strongly advise you to reconsider.

"Whatever goodwill has been built up between the town council, members of the town and the convention will be washed away if you move to three weeks in the school holidays. I think that move is retrograde and not for the benefit of many businesses in the town."

Coun Denstone Kemp said there should be a symbiotic relationship between the convention and the town.

He added: "Now it seems to be parasitic because it's going to kill the host it lives in. If it wants to maintain a symbiotic relationship it needs to listen to the people of the town."

Councillors agreed that more could be done to better co-ordinate things that take place in the town, from the convention to other festivals and one-off events, to maximise the benefits to the town.

They agreed to discuss at their next meeting the possibility of appointing someone to do that role.