New blow for Cornwall sports stadium plan

The Cornish Pirates say the stadium is crucial to their future

Hopes for a £24m sports stadium in Cornwall have received a setback after councillors voted against taking the lead in the project.

Cornwall Council's cabinet will now consider the decision on the 10,000-seat stadium at Threemilestone.

Developers have said £10m of public money is required for them to proceed.

The Cornish Pirates rugby team, which wants a Premiership-standard stadium, said it was disappointed with the decision.

Outline planning permission for the "Stadium for Cornwall" was granted by Cornwall Council in November 2011.

When publishing the <link> <caption>official stadium plan</caption> <url href="https://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/documents/s43170/Stadium%20for%20Cornwall%20Part%20I.doc.pdf" platform="highweb"/> </link> at the beginning of March, the local authority said no recommendations had been made on public funding and the stadium remained a private sector-led project.

But earlier this month, Cornwall Community Stadium Ltd, the private consortium behind the project which consists of Inox Group, Truro & Penwith College and the Cornish Pirates, said the stadium was unable to proceed as a "private sector only" led and funded initiative.

Mebyon Kernow Councillor Dick Cole said: "The point here is, do we investigate putting public money into a project?

"Do we look at the financial and economic benefits of it and see whether it's good value for money?

"The councillors chose to say no without bothering to go through the process of doing that and I find that disheartening."

The Cornish Pirates, currently in the RFU Championship, are battling for a place in the elite league but need a stadium to match.

The Mennaye field in Penzance does not meet the Premiership's minimum capacity criteria of 10,000 and the club had hoped to share a proposed Stadium for Cornwall at Threemilestone with Truro City and the local college.

Head coach Ian Davies said: "If there is no stadium that will be the end of the dream.

"There's a massive talent pool of sportsmen in Cornwall. Surely a county of Cornwall's stature needs a stadium to be built."

<link> <caption>Deputy Conservative leader Scott Mann resigned in February</caption> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-17161929" platform="highweb"/> </link> after he claimed the council was considering spending up to £16m on the project and a nearby housing scheme.