Further discussions have taken place between Pendennis Leisure and Falmouth Town Council on the devolution of Ships & Castles.

As reported last month, Falmouth Town Council was presented with the opportunity from Cornwall Council to accept a transfer of ownership of the Ships & Castles site. Pendennis Leisure CIC, the company set up to save the centre, told the town council to keep the devolution of Ships & Castles "in play" following Cornwall Council's offer.

Following that, an energetic community meeting was held which saw over 150 citizens and organisations from Falmouth and surrounding areas come together to agree on two priorities:

• To reopen Ships & Castles as a public swim leisure facility, as soon as practicable.
• To create a purpose-built '21st-century' swim facility for Falmouth, Penryn & surrounding areas, within ten years.

Since the community meeting, Pendennis Leisure has been working with Falmouth Town Council to progress the goals.

Pendennis Leisure provided an update following a meeting with Falmouth Town Council this week (13th). A spokesperson told Nub News: "Falmouth Town Councillors, Falmouth's Cornwall Councillors and our local MP have all expressed support for our short-term, but challenging goal, to re-open Ships & Castles as soon as possible. But they do need assurances that they will not be left with a liability if they go ahead with the devolution and for any reason, we fail in reopening the leisure centre.

"Pendennis Leisure CIC is focused on providing the assurances Falmouth Town Council need so that they may proceed with the devolution of the Ships & Castles site that Cornwall Council offered them in April. Falmouth Town Council have commissioned an independent expert review of our plan to re-open Ships & Castles and we have also been working on 'back up' plans to either repurpose or even demolish the leisure centre and keep the site as a 'country park' for community benefit. These alternative scenarios would also need finance.

"We are researching and bidding for grant funding to help towards raising the £1million we need to re-open and operate Ships over the next five years. The main target funds are the Government's Community Ownership Fund and the forthcoming Shared Prosperity Fund. We plan to run a crowdfund in the autumn once we have a clearer idea about those larger grants."

The options Cornwall Council have given Falmouth Town Council:

1. Cornwall Council maintains ownership of the land and building and decides the future in regard to sale and development.
2. Full devolution of the Pendennis Headland, including Ships & Castles site, surrounding land and car park.
3. Disposal of part of the site. The Ships & Castles building and some or all of the car park would be sold.

"For the avoidance of doubt, Pendennis Leisure CIC is of the firm belief that full devolution of the headland and Ships & Castles is best for the people of Falmouth and surrounding areas," they added.

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