Cornwall Council to debate stadium (at last)

At full council next week, Cornwall councillors will finally be given the chance to debate the stadium.

A motion has been put forward by Fiona Ferguson, seconded by Councillor M Martin and supported by Councillors Fitter, Mann and Rushworth as follows:

“This Council supports the development of a Stadium for Cornwall as a private sector led project and recommends to Cabinet that if the Council receives a request for financial support, whether direct or indirect, including by way of guarantees or provision of infrastructure, that the principle of providing such support be debated by Full Council before any decision be made by Cabinet.”

What would this mean if passed? Well it tells the cabinet to stop trying to lead the project and leave it to the private sector partners to do so. It also seeks to get around the weasel words that have been used regrettably often by the council on funding to say that if any type of public funding is sought then it should be up to full council (and not the cabinet or individual officers) to decide whether or not it happens.

BUT - the motion also says that the Council is, in principle, supportive of a private sector led stadium project and does not completely close the door to the possibility of public funding.

I suspect that this motion will be broadly supported by most councillors. There will be some who believe there should never be any public funding - but I think they should support this. There will also be those who believe that the Council should continue to lead and pay for the stadium - who will vote against this motion.

What I hope is that this motion is actually debated next week and not kicked into the long grass of a scrutiny committee.

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