Stadium for Cornwall to become Truro Community Sports Hub

A planning application for the site’s pitches has just been submitted to Cornwall Council.

The council’s cabinet will hear plans next week to allocate the land formerly earmarked for the Stadium for Cornwall as the Sports Hub, which will operate very much as part of the new 3,550-home Langarth Garden Village (LGV) on the outskirts of Truro.

The hub will serve as a permanent home for Truro City Football Club (TCFC), as well as providing facilities for use by the community, including Threemilestone Football Club, and feature a 3G all-weather full-sized floodlit community sports pitch.

The main pitch and facilities have been designed to allow for large outdoor public summer events, for the ground to be upgraded to 4,000 capacity and for rugby to be played subject to the agreement of an appropriate licence in the future. The site has also been designed to accommodate a potential community building, car park and mobility hub.

It is on land owned by Cornwall Council and would be overseen by Langarth Garden Village Holdings LLP as the ‘master developer’.

Five planned phases for completion

Phases 1 and 2: Earthworks and pitch installation with construction planned from August 2023 to December 2023, using up to £2.03m of Treyew Road Section 106 funding from the sale of Truro City’s former ground to Lidl.

Phase 3: A Football Association (FA) compliant pitch for use by TCFC to be in place for April 2024 FA inspection; construction January to March 2024. It is proposed to allocate up to £2.67m of the existing Langarth Garden Village budget to facilitate delivery of this phase.

Phase 4: Community 3G pitch; construction likely in the latter half of 2024. Funding, delivery responsibilities and land ownership / lease arrangements to be confirmed, subject to future decisions.

Phase 5: Clubhouse and community hub, construction likely in the last quarter of 2024 onwards, community hub subject to agreement of revised Phase 1 Community Facilities Strategy. Funding, delivery responsibilities and land ownership / lease arrangements to be confirmed, subject to future decisions and a separate planning application, likely in 2024.

There is an urgency to achieving the initial FA compliancy to enable Truro City to use the site from August 2024, prior to which the pitch needs to be approved by the FA. Approval is required in April 2024, with an FA inspection likely in March 2024, with the summer then allowing the pitch to bed in and grow ahead of the playing season.

A planning application has been submitted to Cornwall Council for both this main pitch and the community pitch.

Plans for the two new pitches, including a 3,000-capacity FA-compliant football pitch, at the former Stadium for Cornwall site, which would now be known as Truro Community Sports Hub

A council decision to proceed with the first two phases of the scheme was made on September 18. Revised construction costs have now been received, which estimate the first three phases costing £4.46m. With £2.03m of funding secured from the Treyew Road fund, this leaves £2.43m to be found. It is proposed to fund this from the existing Langarth Garden Village budget. The requirement includes a further 10 per cent contingency making the budget estimate up to £2.67m.

The new report by Phil Mason, the council’s strategic director for sustainable growth and development, and senior project lead Birgit Höntzsch, now seeks to formally add the Sports Hub to the scope of the Langarth programme, to “ensure that they are coordinated with the surrounding development, with existing and emerging communities, and provide a framework for future decision making”.

'Permanent home'

Their report states: “The development of a Sports Hub in the proposed location will provide significant benefits. It will help to develop the identity of LGV, provide better local facilities to the new community and encourage surrounding investment, all of which will help to establish and support the wider consented masterplan scheme and improve the saleability and attraction of the housing development at LGV.

“There is political support in principle for this proposal, acknowledging the importance of TCFC for Truro and the need for supporting them to find a new permanent home, alongside the benefits this scheme would generate for LGV and surrounding communities including Threemilestone and Truro.

“Without providing a new permanent home, TCFC would lose its league status and likely not be able to continue to play as TCFC, which would be a significant loss to the local community. There is also a recognition of the importance of providing facilities for other local clubs including Threemilestone Football Club.”

The report points out that there is a financial risk associated with not proceeding with the main pitch.

If it was not created within the FA timescale, Cornwall Council may potentially have to refund the Treyew Road money for future use on a permanent facility, while also having to cover the contractual obligations already entered into with its construction wing, Cormac, for the first two phases.