Stadium for Cornwall: Plan for smaller venue if £14m government funding rejected

A fully funded 10,000 capacity Stadium for Cornwall would take about 18 months to build

Cornish Pirates chairman Paul Durkin says there could be an alternative plan to build a smaller Stadium for Cornwall should the arena fail to get central government funding.

The project - which will house both the Pirates and Truro City Football Club - has applied for £14m to add to the £11m already raised for the build.

The fully funded plan would see a 10,000-capacity stadium built in Truro.

Should the £14m extra not be granted, a 6,000-capacity venue could be built.

"There is funding there to put a smaller stadium up with temporary stands and things like that which would hold 6,000," Durkin told BBC Sport.

"But that will not survive long term, that doesn't work, but it's something that we could build on providing we were able to get confirmation that further funding was available."

The Stadium for Cornwall did not receive funding during Wednesday's budget, but those behind it are hopeful of being included in a later announcement.

"We are in constant communication with the Government and are excited at the prospect of getting this over the line in the near future," said Stadium for Cornwall chairman Martin Tucker.

"Work will begin immediately to bring Truro City Football Club back to Truro, alongside continuing discussions to secure the final tranche of funding with will allow us to host international sporting events in Cornwall alongside the consistent delivery of education, employment and health services to the people of Cornwall."

Plans for the stadium were first approved in July 2015 but have been delayed over various funding issues.

Truro City agreed to share the ground in April 2017 after having plans for their own separate venue approved at the same time as the current stadium plans in 2015.

The Pirates bought Truro City in April 2019 but the football club is currently without a home after their Treyew Road ground was sold to developers in anticipation of a move to a new stadium - they are playing their home games at Plymouth Parkway's Bolitho Park ground, 55 miles away.

"We need to bring them back to Truro, to the stadium, as soon as possible," Durkin added.

"We're trying to consider whether or not we're able to start off with something there that's temporary where we've got the pitch and the floodlights and temporary accommodation and changing rooms, and then building it out.

"Our hope is that we will start building early next year, providing we get the funding."

Cornish Pirates currently play at the Mennaye Field in Penzance

Under the current plans the Stadium for Cornwall will also house a concussion research centre, while Truro and Penwith College will use the facilities for hospitality and sports therapy courses, and community groups will be able to access the ground's synthetic pitch.

While a 6,000-capacity ground would not meet criteria for promotion to rugby union's Premiership, Durkin says it would be good enough for the second tier - although he is still hopeful of getting the extra government funding the project needs to build the stadium in its entirety.

"If you've got a capacity of 6,000 that's pretty good for the Championship, if we can get that," he said.

"It wasn't that long ago that the Pirates were playing at Kenwyn and we had 6,000 on a couple of occasions at those games.

"So if you've got more people attending the funding is still coming in, it attracts bigger sponsors."