Cornish Sports Stadium

With Mebyon Kernow talking of supporting a Cornish sporting stadium, (Used instead of the silly ‘Stadium 4 Cornwall’ or ‘S4C’ <that’s a TV channel!> or ‘Stadium for Cornwall’ which no doubt it will end up being called, just like the equally silly ‘Hall for…’. That was the campaign… Where’s the imagination?!), I though I’d throw in my view.

I feel an all-purpose sports stadium would be a fantastic asset for Cornwall so long as it’s not an excuse to build even MORE houses! The proposals for the already heavily congested Threemilestone from the last few years were exactly that – basically building a new village/town that just happened to have a stadium in it. Wrong.

My own feeling is that use should be made of already existing facilities, in fact one in particular. Carn Brea Leisure Centre and adjoining land in Pool.

Not only is this fairly central, it’s just a couple of minutes off the A30. As you can see the main train line runs alongside – it wouldn’t take much to install a platform, indeed, the disused Carn Brea Halt is in the vicinity (even without, Camborne and Redruth stations are only 10 minutes away.).

This site would allow a stadium to be built on the site of the athletics track. An all-purpose stadium allowing athletics, football, concerts and of course our national sport, rugby. Olympic sized swimming pool, conference centres and state of the art sports science and gym facilities would be part of the whole, making this the jewel in Cornwall’s sporting crown.

That would be my dream but I’m only interested in something that would benefit Cornish folk in general and youngsters whose future careers in sport would be boosted greatly, not in lining my pockets like the carpet-baggers who either want to build unneccessary housing or supermarkets and view a Cornish stadium as an easy way in…

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BIH Withdraws Plans

So British International Helicopters (BIH), pulls out of Penzance, where it flies back and forth to the islands as it has done since 1964. Now it sells the land to supermarket giant Sainsbury’s. Apparently the only way the company can continue is if this sale takes place. Putting to one side (for the moment) the fact that Penzance does not need another supermarket, being served by no less than Co-op, Tesco and Morrisons (sometimes in multiples!), Penzance is the ideal town from which to fly a helicopter service to the islands (presumably why they put it there in the first place!). Next, it decides it wants to relocate several miles up the A30 to the small village of St Erth. The people of said village rightly say, ‘bugger that!’ and a few days after general feeling is made known through a public meeting, BIH pull their planning application and suddenly there’s talk of re-locating to Newquay airport, (where BIH already have their Navy support and aircraft maintenance services).

Call me cynical but all this smacks of smoke-screen. BIH have withdrawn too easily!  They (BIH) would hope, that the furore over in St Erth would detract from the sale of land for an erection of a Sainsbury’s and in some ways it has. Protesting, in the form of multiple banners and signage has occured along the A30 in the proposed new heliport area, while in Penzance, supermarket planning has gone through, almost as a fait accompli, with some councillors and civic leaders zipping up their collective fly and claiming no harm will come to the independent trader of Penzance.
The town is about to get the equivalent of foreign aid turning up with salt water and pirates!

From an aesthetic point of view, is another supermarket a good replacement for a vital transport link on the approach to Penzance?

You’re driving west, down the A30 towards Penzance. What are you greeted with? First off, the stench from McDonalds and KFC; then the unbelievably expensive road signs that wouldn’t look out of place on the M25, coupled with a round-about that defies all road-sense and the Highway Code. Next there’s, Morrisons, Halfords and B&Q and then… Sainsbury’s! But there will be a park and ride to save you the two minute drive into one of Penzance’s ridiculously priced car-parks!

So, the islanders who need to nip back to the mainland will no longer have the closest (and quickest) port of call. A town which is synonomous with the Islands and easy for visitors to access, will no longer have its aerial link. What it will have, is a new shopping ‘experience’ and somewhere for visitors to park their car to get bussed down the road.

Having the heli-link in Newquay is like having the ferry link in Falmouth. Ridiculous! The latter of course, was another outright lie put forth by the ‘great and good’, the former however, looks to be a reality.

The residents of St Erth were right to object – Penzance is where the helicopter should fly from, it’s just a shame that the wheels, or in this case, the blades, of big business are put above the needs of ordinary people.