Here is my solution to the Falmouth recreation ground debate, bearing in mind you cannot please all of the people all of the time. Following Mr K Toy's letter, rightly complaining about the increases in fees for the soccer pitches at Dracaena Avenue, these pitches have always been sub-standard with little or no drainage. Also the top pitch is very small. They should all be sold and used for re-generation.

This would be Falmouth's best site to provide a tasty mix of affordable housing and make a real impact. Also, to provide a good sized play/recreational area incorporating a mod-con youth club within the development.

The entire site is owned by Carrick district council. It is worth a fortune ... £10,000,000? I believe £750,000 per acre is the going rate. Unlike the "rec" no compensation will be paid to any of the teams playing at Dracaena, unlike the rugby club who stand to receive millions of pounds and refuse to let anyone else on their pitches. What good is that to the community? Why should they have the money? Why are they being given, in addition, tens of thousands of pounds annually to help them through the first three years? And more ... let's help those that need housing instead.

Dracaena pitches cover a huge area - four times the size of the recreation ground (including the banks up to the pubs and Old Hill Crescent)? It is also close to the main Falmouth-Penryn by-pass. With a new roundabout placed at the bottom end, where the former hockey pitch was, access will be easy. It will not have the chronic traffic/environmental problems associated with the "rec."

With the huge capital generated the teams would all, I'm sure, be happily moved to the Hillhead sports hub. (Why is it Carrick have never completed their inquiries to the Church Commissioners on this site?). Another recreational area can be created/improved adjacent to Lambs Lane and possibly offered to the rugby club who could also share the state-of-the-art pitches/training facilities at Hillhead.

Also, the recreation ground would be saved and upgraded, which is what the people of Falmouth clearly want, having heard about the thousands of locals who continue to sign the petition. Maybe a go-ahead soccer team or the homeless Cornish Pirates (imagine that - top flight rugby! What a coup for Falmouth!) would be offered the chance to utilise it's wonderful potential, as well as keeping it open to the public, which is what it is intended for.

To sum up: Sell a large sub-standard sports area, replace with modern and extensive sports facilities, including upgrading the "rec;" help the homeless in a major way by providing affordable housing on a large scale; save the ratepayers from propping up the rugby club on the 16-acre site at Menehay, which otherwise will become one of the biggest white elephants in history!

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