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AN UPDATE ON THE NEW TCFC ground By Lee Trewhela - Local Democracy Reporter Cornwall for Cornwall Live - 3 November 2023

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All of the below you can find on the following link :- Stadium for Cornwall site to become Truro Community Sports Hub instead - Cornwall Live

By Lee Trewhela  Local Democracy Reporter Cornwall for Cornwall Live

3 November 2023

STADIUM FOR CORNWALL SITE TO BECOME TRURO COMMUNITY SPORTS HUB INSTEAD

The initial £4.46m development will now be part of the Langarth Garden Village masterplan with more phases planned and will include a new home for Truro City Football Club

Truro City Football Club has revealed more details about its new stadium in Cornwall

The failed Stadium for Cornwall site is likely to become Truro Community Sports Hub accommodating a range of sports and community uses including a floodlit 3,000-capacity FA-compliant football pitch. A planning application for the site's pitches has just been submitted to Cornwall Council.

The council's ruling cabinet will hear plans next week to allocate the land formerly earmarked for the Stadium for Cornwall as the Sports Hub which will operate very much as part of the new 3,550-home Langarth Garden Village (LGV) on the outskirts of Truro.

The hub will serve as a permanent home for Truro City Football Club (TCFC), as well as providing facilities for use by the community, including Threemilestone Football Club, and feature a 3G all-weather full-sized floodlit community sports pitch.

The main pitch and facilities have been designed to allow for large outdoor public summer events, for the ground to be upgraded to 4,000 capacity and for rugby to be played subject to the agreement of an appropriate licence in the future. The site has also been designed to accommodate a potential community building, car park and mobility hub.

It is on land owned by Cornwall Council and would be overseen by Langarth Garden Village Holdings LLP as the 'master developer'. There are five planned phases for completion, which are as follows:

Phases 1 and 2: Earthworks and pitch installation with construction planned from August 2023 to December 2023, using up to £2.03m of Treyew Road Section 106 funding from the sale of Truro City's former ground to Lidl.

Phase 3: A Football Association (FA) compliant pitch for use by TCFC to be in place for April 2024 FA inspection; construction January to March 2024. It is proposed to allocate up to £2.67m of the existing Langarth Garden Village budget to facilitate delivery of this phase.

Phase 4: Community 3G pitch; construction likely in the latter half of 2024. Funding, delivery responsibilities and land ownership/lease arrangements to be confirmed, subject to future decisions.

Phase 5: Clubhouse and community hub, construction likely in the last quarter of 2024 onwards, community hub subject to agreement of revised Phase 1 Community Facilities Strategy. Funding, delivery responsibilities and land ownership/lease arrangements to be confirmed, subject to future decisions and a separate planning application, likely in 2024.

There is an urgency to achieving the initial FA compliancy to enable Truro City to use the site from August 2024, prior to which the pitch needs to be approved by the FA. Approval is required in April 2024, with an FA inspection likely in March 2024, with the summer then allowing the pitch to bed in and grow ahead of the playing season. A planning application has been submitted to Cornwall Council for both this main pitch and the community pitch.

A council decision to proceed with the first two phases of the scheme was made on September 18. Revised construction costs have now been received, which estimate the first three phases costing £4.46m. With £2.03m of funding secured from the Treyew Road fund, this leaves £2.43m to be found. It is proposed to fund this from the existing Langarth Garden Village budget. The requirement includes a further 10 per cent contingency making the budget estimate up to £2.67m.

The new report by Phil Mason, the council's strategic director for sustainable growth and development, and senior project lead Birgit Höntzsch, now seeks to formally add the Sports Hub to the scope of the Langarth programme, to "ensure that they are coordinated with the surrounding development, with existing and emerging communities, and provide a framework for future decision making".

Their report states: "The development of a Sports Hub in the proposed location will provide significant benefits. It will help to develop the identity of LGV, provide better local facilities to the new community and encourage surrounding investment, all of which will help to establish and support the wider consented masterplan scheme and improve the saleability and attraction of the housing development at LGV.

"There is political support in principle for this proposal, acknowledging the importance of TCFC for Truro and the need for supporting them to find a new permanent home, alongside the benefits this scheme would generate for LGV and surrounding communities including Threemilestone and Truro.

"Without providing a new permanent home, TCFC would lose its league status and likely not be able to continue to play as TCFC, which would be a significant loss to the local community. There is also a recognition of the importance of providing facilities for other local clubs including Threemilestone Football Club."

The report points out that there is a financial risk associated with not proceeding with the main pitch. If it was not created within the FA timescale, Cornwall Council may potentially have to refund the Treyew Road money for future use on a permanent facility, while also having to cover the contractual obligations already entered into with its construction wing, Cormac, for the first two phases.

 

PREVIOUSLY ……………….

 

GROUND WORK STARTS FOR NEW STADIUM AT LANGARTH

By Olivier Vergnault, Senior Reporter

4 JUL 2023

The scaled down version will be on the site of what was supposed to be the Stadium for Cornwall

Work has started on a new stadium at Langarth Garden Village where the doomed Stadium For Cornwall should have gone. In June last year, the plans for Stadium for Cornwall, which had been 12 years in the making, was all but scrapped after Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor said there was no cash left in the kitty for it.

Earlier this year Truro City Football Club and the Penzance-based Cornish Pirates rugby club filed a planning application with the local authority for a scaled-down stadium which they said they hoped to build by March 2024. The 3,000-seat stadium at Langarth on the edge of Truro would be on the same site of the Stadium For Cornwall with room to grow and expand over the years.

Truro City Football Club, who were promoted to National League South after a dramatic late winner, have been in exile in Plymouth, ground sharing with Plymouth Parkway F.C. at Bolitho Park since their ground at Treyew Road was sold to make way for a new Lidl. The club was acquired by the Cornish Pirates in March 2021 and the plan then was for the two teams to share the use of the new Stadium for Cornwall.

Championship side Cornish Pirates, who are ineligible to be promoted to the Premiership as their home at the Mennaye Field in Penzance does not meet top-flight criteria, are hoping to ground share with Truro City once the stadium is built and grows over the years.

Cornwall Council has now announced that work has begun on the scaled down stadium next to the existing park and ride facility. The local authority said extensive site and earth works have been taking place at the development already to create the roads, footpaths, a new energy centre and general infrastructure needed for the new town.

Cornwall Council said it is working alongside the football club to provide the new facilities, including use by Threemilestone Football Club and other sports clubs in Cornwall. The initial land levelling and enabling works started on June 19, with the timing being critical for bringing Truro City Football Club back to Truro for the 2024/5 football season.

A spokesman said detailed planning permission will now be sought and consultation will take place with the local community. Harry Lewis, portfolio director Langarth Garden Village, said: "It is critical that works start on the football and community sports facilities whilst we are building the road and other infrastructure for the garden village. I hope that sport can be at the heart of the new village and provide a focal point for the new community."

Cllr David Harris, deputy leader of Cornwall Council and portfolio holder for resources, added: "With a development the size of Langarth Garden Village it is crucial that we build a community rather than just housing, and these sports facilities will be a crucial part of that."

The two sports clubs, owned by Cornishman businessman Dicky Evans, have launched a crowdfunding campaign via the Exeter-based platform Crowdcube to secure their future with a £2.5m public appeal. Already more than 700 sports fans have now signed up to the crowdfunding campaign with the details on the investments packages available expected to be released soon.

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RAPPO Premier Contributor

RAPPO

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Must say I like the sound of Phase 3! An FA complient pitch ready for April 2024!! 
 

Although slightly concerned regards Phase 5!! .   Clubhouse built not until the last quarter of 2024!?  🤔🤔🤔 

Cant imagine Yeovil Town, Torquay Utd or Bath City going back the Vic or Chiverton Arms for sausage and chips 🍟 at the start of the 24/25 season!!! ⚽️😂👍

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bighairydave Premier Contributor

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7 hours ago, mattelot said:

As its now being called a community hub,does that then mean that TCFC won't actually own it and that they will have to pay rent ,or they will own it and other parties will have to pay them rent ?

Or perhaps Truro have the stadium with the community hub being run alongside it? Truro have put in half the money so should have some ownership.

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mattelot Premier Contributor

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3 hours ago, bighairydave said:

Or perhaps Truro have the stadium with the community hub being run alongside it? Truro have put in half the money so should have some ownership.

The link title says it all Dave.Community Hubs are normally run by local councils with those using them paying rent for their use.

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Town Fan Premier Contributor

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On 03/11/2023 at 22:26, RAPPO said:

Must say I like the sound of Phase 3! An FA complient pitch ready for April 2024!! 
 

Although slightly concerned regards Phase 5!! .   Clubhouse built not until the last quarter of 2024!?  🤔🤔🤔 

Cant imagine Yeovil Town, Torquay Utd or Bath City going back the Vic or Chiverton Arms for sausage and chips 🍟 at the start of the 24/25 season!!! ⚽️😂👍

Chiverton Arms?  You're assuming the roadworks will be finished before the start of the 2024/25 season?  Good luck with that one!

🤣

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Ian Pethick Premier Contributor

Ian Pethick

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56 minutes ago, JJS said:

So it is grass pitch now for TCFC?  which is good. 

 "..............for rugby to be played subject to the agreement of an appropriate licence in the future."  How well do Rugby and Football mix on the same grass pitch? 

Going to need a damned good pitch if that is the plan.Ashton Gate is home to Bristol City and Bristol Bears, and has a surface that is hybrid grass and plastic. No idea what City are going with, but would think that the Ashton Gate example is bloody expensive.

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Ian Pethick Premier Contributor

Ian Pethick

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50 minutes ago, Dave Deacon said:

What about if the rugby would be more based on the summer period?

As in rugby league? Their season is March-October (ish). York have football and rugby league ground sharing at their new community stadium, they play on one of those hybrid grass/plastic surfaces. Not sure how playing rugby league in the summer months on a pure grass surface would impact upon the usual repair/replace activity that goes on over this period on the pitch.

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