Cornwall Council has announced that it has commissioned internal and external reviews into the failure of the Saints Trails cycle paths project which has been described as “an unmitigated disaster”.

The Saints Trails was a major scheme for the council and aimed to create four new multiple user trails covering 30km across Cornwall. When it was first announced it was hailed as being the next Camel Trail – the successful trail which links Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow, however councillors now describe it as “an unmitigated disaster”.

The council was forced to cut back the £19million scheme after failing to secure the land required and running over time and budget.

Concerns had been raised about the project in January 2021 after the council’s audit committee was told that it was expected to go £6m over budget and was unlikely to be delivered on time. However council director Phil Mason gave a personal assurance that the project could be delivered on time and on budget.

However, in October the council announced that it was having to scale back the project due to budget pressures and removed two of the four trails which were set to be created. And in February the council revealed that further cuts would have to be made with a proposed trail linking Perranporth to Newquay altered to go from Perranporth to Goonhavern.

The entire project was set to be mainly funded through government grants with £17m coming from Highways England and the remainder of money coming from the council. However the council admitted that it had hit problems in securing the land needed for the trails.

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Cornwall councillors had called for a full investigation into what had gone wrong with some asking for a “warts and all” report to be delivered. On Friday (May 6) at a meeting of the audit committee it was revealed that two reviews have now been commissioned by the council.

Armand Toms, chairman of the committee, said: “An internal lessons learned exercise is taking place and an external lessons learned review will also take place. Louis Gardner, chair of the economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee, has agreed his committee will be involved in this work.

“Informal sessions will be held in the near future so that officers can consult with the committee about the draft scope of the review.”

Cllr Toms said that once the brief of the review has been agreed then the external review will be formally commissioned and the findings of that review would be presented to the audit committee. He added that the outcomes from both reviews would be formally reported to the economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee.

The audit committee heard that it would then receive a full report based on the findings of the scrutiny committee – expected to be at its meeting in November. Cllr Toms said that the audit committee could then choose to report back to the council’s Cabinet any recommendations which come as a result of the reviews.

Audit committee member John Conway asked whether the council had put better processes in place as a result of the Saints Trails to ensure that other large projects do not also fall short.

He said: “We have learned a lot from the Saints Trails, it has been an unmitigated disaster, we know that. With projects such as Langarth and Pydar Street will members be made aware of it rather than waiting until something goes wrong?”

Tracie Langley, the council’s chief operating officer, said that the council was looking to work closer with local people on major projects.

“The learning that we have had out of the Saints Trails and our engagement with local areas and engagement on some of those bigger schemes is really important, that is one of the biggest areas we have to get better at. Myself and my colleagues, we are looking at how we get better at doing that.”

However Ms Langley admitted that this would need a “shift in the way we work” and the culture at the council to ensure that they work more closely with local councillors and local areas when delivering large projects.

She added: “The key part of that is working locally with local members and local people because it is important and we must remember that in all the things we do and not only on those big projects.”

Steve Arthur, Cornwall councillor for Perranporth, asked whether the council had “made a profit” from the Saints Trails. Ms Langley said that the council had not made any profit and all monies received for the project had been used to deliver the parts which were still being planned.