At a meeting held yesterday (Thursday), the committee unanimously agreed to let Treveth, the council’s developmental arm, build the Hub. It will be located next to the Langarth Park and Ride, on land formerly earmarked for sporting facilities.

After vacating Treyew Road in January 2021, City have played home games in Devon and for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, at Wordsworth Drive, home of fellow Vanarama National League South side Taunton Town.

The Truro Sports Hub (TSH) will not only provide facilities for City, but the local community, Threemilestone Football Club and other local sports clubs.

“This is a landmark decision in the history of Truro City Football Club and for Cornwall as a whole” said City’s executive chairman Eric Perez. “We wish to thank everyone who worked tirelessly to get us to this point. This decision puts us one giant step closer, and we are proud to say, football’s coming home.”

TSH, which was formally approved by Cornwall Council’s Cabinet at the end of last year, is backed by Sport England and key local stakeholders, including Kenwyn Parish Council and Truro City.

Delivered by Treveth, TSH will provide a main floodlit grass football pitch with capacity for 3,000 spectators, as well as a second all weather floodlit 3G pitch for use by the local community.

Although the main pitch will be used by City in the first instance, enabling the club to return to playing football in the city, there is also the potential for the pitch to be adapted for other sports, including rugby, in the future.

Construction of the main pitch and the temporary buildings required to enable City to move back home for the start of the 2024-25 season, subject to Football Association approval, are due to be completed by the end of the current 23-24 season.

Plans to provide a permanent club house and facilities, as well as community rooms on site, will require funding to be identified from a variety of other sources and a separate planning application for that element is expected in the coming months.

In the meantime, work is continuing to secure the funding needed for the community pitch which is expected to be provided next year. The full sized floodlit artificial pitch will provide all-weather and all year-round training and playing facilities for local teams and organisations. These will include future residents of the Garden Village as well as the communities of Threemilestone and Truro and potentially wider.

“We’re getting four things delivered on the former stadium site,” enthused Dulcie Tudor, Cornwall councillor for Threemilestone and Chacewater. “A football ground for Truro City Football Club, who are finally coming back home. A community football pitch so Threemilestone Football Club, who’ve had to play and train in Truro, can come home too.

“And within a year we’ll be seeing plans for a building that will be both a clubhouse for Truro City Football Club and a community centre with enough space for indoor sports.”

Meanwhile, Olly Monk, Cornwall Council member for housing and planning, added: “It’s great news that members of the strategic planning committee have granted permission for the construction of the Truro Sports Hub at Langarth Garden Village.

“The council has said from the very start that we are building a community rather than just providing housing at Langarth and this means delivering key infrastructure in the early stages of the scheme. Providing these much-needed sports facilities is a crucial part of achieving this.”