Report finds 'serious concerns' at Truro Cathedral

A team found "serious concerns" around the management of Truro Cathedral

The Bishop of Truro has promised a period of change after a report found "serious concerns" with the management of Cornwall's main cathedral.

The Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen commissioned a formal review of Truro Cathedral after staff raised "issues".

The visiting team found "discordant leadership, conflictual working relationships, underperformance and an unhealthy culture".

The Rt Rev Mounstephen said he hoped the issues would be sorted by 2024.

St Mary's Aisle is the oldest part of Truro Cathedral

He added: "Truro Cathedral matters to people across Cornwall, it's Cornwall's cathedral and it's my responsibility to make sure it's the best it can be."

The report found "serious concerns" around "vision, mission and engagement".

It said despite "some evidence" of "warm and productive" working relationships, key working practices were made less effective by the "prevailing culture".

It said change was needed "at pace".

The Rt Rev Mounstephen told Radio Cornwall he had commissioned the formal review, known as a "visitation", after staff reported "issues".

Despite referring to "really really good" elements, he added: "Obviously if I had thought everything in the garden was rosy I wouldn't have commissioned the report."

'A very different place'

The Rt Revd Mounstephen said findings reflected the "past rather than the present", was a "to-do list for the future" and the cathedral was already a "very different place" than it was "just a few months ago".

He said cathedrals were "multi-million pound operations" with requirements "so much greater" than they once were.

The bishop said they were tasked with "moving a cathedral from a place of position to a place of interest."

Safeguarding concerns had been "process rather than cases" and "good progress" had been made, he said.

His own role in relation to the cathedral had been "arm's length", he added.

Paying tribute to the outgoing Right Rev Roger Bush, he said the former dean had done a "wonderful job" but that the "emerging to-do list" was "not really within his skill set to address".

There had been "absolutely no concerns" raised about Christopher Gray, former director of music, he added.

He said: "In a year's time I would hope there's a real evidence base of enthusiasm, of commitment, to which people are saying we are committed to getting it right... and that the systems and processes which are identified in the visitation report that we need to sort are sorted."

Father Simon Robinson, the Interim Dean for Truro Cathedral said it was a "true privilege to be at the cathedral at a time of great change".