Camborne Town Council and Camborne RFC are asking people who care about recreation facilities, community wellbeing and Cornish rugby for their support.

The council is petitioning Cornwall Council to transfer the freehold of Camborne Recreation Ground in its entirety to the town council for community management, amid growing concerns about the long term future of The Rec due to information received through negotiations for wider devolution of assets and services.

The petition aims to ensure the future of the ground for the benefit of the community by providing long term security of tenure for Camborne RFC, enabling much needed investment and improvement for wider community use and ensuring continued use by Cornwall RFU and for other important rugby fixtures held in Cornwall.

Camborne RFC currently leases the pitch from Cornwall Council, with the length of the lease and its terms making it difficult for the club to get the funding required to make much needed improvements.

Cornwall Council has refused to sell the pitch to Camborne RFC and has also refused to transfer the site in its entirety to the town council, but has proposed to transfer the park section to the town council while retaining ownership of the rugby pitch which it has identified as being strategically important.

It has also offered a joint title but has failed to provide any details of such an arrangement, and said it needs to retain options for its property estate in the future.

Mayor Trevor Chalker said: "Camborne Town Council and I as its mayor are pleased to give Camborne RFC our 100 per cent support in all matters relating to its future tenancy at the Recreation Ground. We firmly believe that its future is far more secure, with the town council being its landlord, than Cornwall Council. We have local needs at heart and care passionately for our town’s rugby club and want to see it develop and grow within a friendly cooperative spirit of goodwill, which is absolutely essential for its long term stability."

Councillor Stuart Odgers said: "As a Camborne man born and bred, the Rec has always been at the heart of the town. As a boy growing up I spent many hours there and can remember watching many famous players including internationals such as the All Blacks. It is the only green area where children living in the town centre can play and participate in sport and I believe it is vital to the wellbeing of the local community."

The Basset family laid out Camborne Recreation Ground as a Diamond Jubilee Memorial to Queen Victoria. It was officially opened by Mr A F Basset on 24th June 1898 and leased to Camborne Urban District Council as a public recreation ground for the benefit of the inhabitants of Camborne. In 1911 Camborne Urban District Council bought the Recreation Ground as part of three lots from the Basset estate for the sum of £400 in exercise of powers given it by the Public Health Act 1875. Rugby has been played at the Rec since 1897.

Over 1,000 signatures have already been collected on a petition, which can be found on line at www.freepetition.co.uk/cornwall/SignPetition.aspx?apcode=P110ID2922016121342, or signed at Camborne Town Council, The Basset Centre, Basset Road, Camborne and at Camborne RFC, Crane Park, Camborne or through contacting Camborne Town Councillors.

The council has also set up a dedicated page at www.facebook.com/KeepRugbyAtCamborneRec/ where it is inviting people to share their personal memories of the Rec.