Truro City Council moved from its old nursery depot at Boscawen Park to a new site at Idless in order to create the space for the development of the new Community Sports Hub project.
The new nursery at Fozzard Fields provided the opportunity to use bigger, more modern tunnels and greenhouses which meant that the old greenhouses and tunnels at Boscawen Park became redundant.
As part of its commitment to reducing carbon emissions and enhancing sustainability, the Council was determined to find new homes for the old tunnels and greenhouses which could not be moved to the new site rather than see them scrapped.
“We were keen to recycle as many of the buildings and equipment from the Boscawen Park depot as possible “ explained Richard Budge, the City Council’s Parks, Amenities & Facilities Officer. “We are delighted to have found new homes for all the polytunnels and greenhouses among community groups, local growers and smallholders.”
One of the polytunnels has gone to Redruth Town Council, which is planning to begin growing its own plants, while the old site office has moved to Kenwyn Hill playing field where it is now being used as a club house for the Truro Youth football team.
The rest of the site has now been cleared in readiness for the build work to begin later this year.
The City Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and is committed to emitting net zero carbon by 2030. As well as implementing measures to reduce its own carbon emissions, including the introduction of energy efficient lighting in the community library building and reducing the use of paper in its offices, the authority has been encouraging all its staff and councillors to look at how they can promote and enhance sustainability, protect nature and increase biodiversity.
The Council also supported the first ever Community Conversation held at Truro Cathedral in April 2024 where members of the public were invited to join civic leaders and health professionals to develop practical solutions to tackle the growing environmental and economic issues facing the county. Councillors also voted unanimously to support the Climate and Ecology Bill in 2023 when the private member’s bill was going through Parliament.
The plans to provide new and improved indoor and outdoor sports and leisure facilities at Boscawen Park in Truro were given the go ahead by Cornwall Council earlier this month.
Led by the City Council and funded by Truro Town Deal, the Community Sports Hub project will see a new multi-use building constructed in Boscawen Park, incorporating new changing facilities, as well as flexible indoor spaces suitable for both indoor sports use and other activities such as conferences, community and family events, workshops and training or arts and crafts groups.
The multi-use building will provide space for a wide variety of indoor sports such as badminton, table tennis and basketball, together with the community areas and meeting and conference facilities. The outdoor space will include an extended and improved boules and pétanque pitch.
Improvements will also be made to the existing grass playing surfaces that will enable all the pitches to be used for longer periods of the year.
