Cornwall Council has admitted that it is responsible for the delay in getting work under way on the Stadium for Cornwall.

In July Cabinet member Bob Egerton claimed that the deal to transfer the land needed for the stadium, which would unlock funding from the Government, could be done by the end of that month.

However, despite his claim that it could take “days if not hours”, nothing happened.

At a meeting of full council on Tuesday Conservative councillor David Harris asked Cllr Egerton for an explanation.

The Cabinet member for economy and planning said that the reason for the delay was because the council needed more land for the planned Northern Access Road which will serve the Langarth Garden Village development planned for the area around the stadium site.

Cornwall Council is leading on the Langarth Garden Village which will be made up of several sites to the north of the A390 near Threemilestone. The council agreed to make an intervention after a number of development sites which have planning permission ground to a halt.

In intervening the council is aiming to create a masterplan which will bring together the developments and is also looking to build some of its own housing on the sites.

Referring to his July statement Cllr Egerton said: “When I said that I thought “what am I saying?”, promising it. I promised it in good faith. I believed at that time that we were about to get it signed off but subsequently we did find there was a bit of a problem.”

That problem, he explained, was that the council was now looking to amend the Section 106 agreement that is in place with the landowner so that it can acquire more land needed for the new road following the Government granting £47million for the project.

He said: “It has been our request to amend the Section 106 to allow for a redrawn, revised road because now that we have got the government funding we are able to be more ambitious with a proper boulevard-style road through Langarth instead of an estate road. That will require a bit more land take and we do need that before we can sign it off.”

He said that once it had been done the land for the stadium could be secured.

The Stadium for Cornwall is a joint project led by stadium partners from the Cornish Pirates, Truro City FC and Truro and Penwith College.

While Cllr Egerton apologised for the delay he was reluctant to say when the deal might be complete.

He said: “I am hesitant to give you another timescale having been wrong before. All I can say is that we are actively working on it. It is in the interests of us as a council as well as the stadium partners to get this through and done as soon as possible.”