Cornish Pirates chairman Dicky Evans has updated supporters on plans for the proposed Stadium for Cornwall.

The ground, set to be situated in Langarth near Truro, will be shared by the Cornish Pirates and Truro City but has encountered numerous delays in terms of funding and complications regarding planning permission.

Latest reports this year state that the stadium may have to be scaled down compared to its original plans.

In a statement, Mr Evans said: "We also have to accept that we will have to live with the current planning permission which we wanted to vary slightly to make the pitch easier to build, requiring far less expensive and energy consumptive groundwork and retaining wall construction.

"A shift in the location by only a few metres would have saved considerable money and greenhouse gas emissions. However a new planning application would take at least a year and would not give us the pitch we need for Truro City FC within a reasonable time, leaving them playing not just out of Truro, but out of Cornwall for years," he added.

The cost of the project was estimated at £14.3m. In April 2018 Cornwall Council pledged to fund three million pounds towards the project when council members voted 69-41 to back the project.

Meanwhile, in 2020 Lord Myners wrote to PM Boris Johnson asking to fund the Stadium for Cornwall as part of the governments plans to restore the economy, stating that the stadium if built would create 400 to 500 new jobs, as well as bringing in eight to ten million pounds every year to the local community.

Continuing in his statement Pirates director Mr Evans emphasised the importance of getting the stadium construction underway. He said: "I am determined that this Stadium is a facility for the people of Cornwall.

"Having a larger stadium will benefit the football and rugby clubs through increased capacity for fans on match days and allow promotion through the leagues, but this project can and should be bigger than that.

"We will provide sports rehabilitation to any tourists and second home residents that want and need our services, but we will design in usage conditions and cost benefits that better support our full-time local population." Said Evans.

As with nearly everything over the past year, the Stadium for Cornwall project succumbed to delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic but Evans believes that this setback may actually benefit the concept in the long run.

He said: "The Covid delay has allowed us to evolve the project to far better benefit the people of Cornwall by adding in new sports injury rehabilitation services that will be accessible to the public. This will allow Cornish players, riders, runners, swimmers, surfers, and others, from children to veterans, amateur to elite, to better recover from a range of sports injuries."

As it stands both of the sides awaiting to play in the new stadia will be forced to wait another season.

Truro City have now left their home at Treyew Road after agreeing to a deal with German shop Lidl. The White Tigers were given £600,000 from the chain to relocate and will subsequently play their games out of the county at Plymouth Parkway's Bolitho Park next season.

Meanwhile, the Cornish Pirates will continue to play at the Mennaye Field in Penzance.

It is hoped that the Stadium for Cornwall could be completed by the start of the 2022/23 season.