A request for £6m ($8.5m/€6.9m) in public money for the Stadium for Cornwall, which could host the Cornish Pirates rugby union team, is to be voted on by Cornwall Council in April.
Cornwall County Council leader Adam Paynter announced to the full council yesterday (Tuesday) that a formal request had been received from the project leaders asking for public financial support.
The Stadium for Cornwall is a multi-purpose sports, leisure, education and business facility in conjunction with Truro and Penwith College, Inox Group and Henry Boot PLC.
In addition, English National League South football club Truro City and Championship rugby union team Cornish Pirates agreed a deal to share the new stadium.
Work on the 6,000-capacity venue was supposed to start last summer ahead of a planned opening in time for the 2019-20 season, though ground has not yet been broken. The project was initially expected to cost £10m (€11.8m/$12.5m), and is to be built at Threemilestone, Truro in Cornwall.
According to the Cornwall Live news website, the group says it now has £6m towards the development, with the ability to borrow another £2m.
But it said: “In order for the partners to deliver the stadium in 2019, independent of any neighbouring development proposals, we require £6m of public sector investment.”
Planning permission has been granted for the stadium and associated development and it had been expected that it could be funded by a planned retail development next to the stadium site.
Paynter said: “It has been disappointing that the stadium has not been delivered yet, especially as the Government and our MPs had given assurances that the funding would be there.”
In 2015, former Prime Minister David Cameron said that he would get the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to work with Sport England and Cornwall Council to move the project forward.
He said: “The stadium proposal is an exciting one. If it takes some extra money I’d make that money available.”
Image: Stadium for Cornwall
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