OFFICIALS from the Cornish Pirates and Truro & Penwith College have turned down an offer from Truro City to share their new ground should the Stadium for Cornwall plan collapse.

Last week, the football club's chairman Peter Masters had said they would be open to other teams using their proposed stadium at Silver Bow.

In a joint statement from Ian Connell, chairman of the Pirates, and the college's director Martin Tucker, the group behind the Stadium for Cornwall said they would be politely declining the invitation.

The statement said: "Mr Master’s assertion that his proposed new 'stadium' at Silver Bow is 'already funded and ready to go' is simply not consistent with what is widely understood and documented elsewhere.

"His Silver Bow scheme is a football pitch with a clubhouse and a few covered stands.

"Unfortunately, this kind of development cannot begin to meet the requirements of the Pirates or the College, nor the large communities they serve, either now or in the future.

"Peter Masters does not seem to have appreciated the very different scale and scope of the Stadium for Cornwall in relation to his project."

The Stadium for Cornwall bid is being held up presently as permission is being sought to build a supermarket on the site, with a decision set to be made by March 12.