Truro’s Pydar project still looking for a sweetheart

Posted By on 18 July 2023

By Julia Penhaligon

The £200 million Pydar project in the centre of Truro is still looking for private investors, councillors heard today (Tuesday.)

The scheme is supposed to provide housing, education and retail facilities in the city’s cathedral and viaduct area.

Cornwall Council’s customers’ scrutiny committee was today looking at County Hall’s latest capital spending programme, which shows “zero” for Pydar.

Some fear that Pydar has the potential to bankrupt the council as its viability rating is currently only 0.1%.  With rocketing interest rates and runaway inflation, most private investors would today run a mile rather than gamble on the project.

Conservative councillor Stephen Rushworth asked the meeting where the £200 million would come from and when construction might start.  The site was recently flattened by bulldozers but there is no indication of when construction might get underway.

Officials said the project Is due to be led by the council’s arms’-length developer, Treveth LLP, whose reason for existing is supposed to be its ability to attract funding from the private sector.

“So there’s really no reason for Pydar to be in our capital programme,” said councillor Rushworth.

Officials agreed, saying it had been included for “historic” reasons and that within County Hall, Pydar was “constantly under review.”

Twelve months ago the council agreed it would be the bank of last resort, and would underwrite Pydar, if it became necessary.

But on the specifics of councillor Rushworth’s question – about the source of funding for Pydar and when construction might start – there was no answer.

Knocking it down was the easy bit.  But when will anyone start construction?  And who will pay for it?

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This article has 7 comments

  1. Kevin i support your comments on this Company. Needs to be closed down before they do more damage to Cornwall Councils finances.They have made promises to Truro City FC about completion of the ground at Langarth for start of season in 2024 that can not be achieved.

    • William they have created a casino culture repeating the same actions over and over again expecting a different result each time which is a classic definition of madness… Everything the dead hand of the Kremlin touches turns to dust and the cumulative losses are mounting exponentially bearing firmly in mind that it is OUR MONEY that is being vaporised thus trapping those who follow us in an inescapable vortex of debt.

    • William without any doubt the proposed ground will be a waterlogged quagmire in the present exceptionally wet conditions which even if they had actually managed to sow grass seed earlier (highly doubtful) is not conducive to the establishment of the sward required to pass muster with the FA.

  2. LLP INDEED!!!

    This impending financial catastrophe needs to be limited by being wound up asap as a belated damage limitation exercise.

    Those responsible Treveths inception (WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE) should be banned from public service for life, however without doubt they will survive with with utter impunity and the hoary old phrase ”lessons have been learned” will be trotted out by way of a feeble excuse while Cornwalls long suffering taxpayers will suffer from the massive financial fallout for decades to come.

    A measure of the incompetence involved was the hastyily presumptive demolition of the Pydar Street multi storey car park which could have continued to produce revenue until the project started, instead we are left with a very expensive hole in the ground with no revenue yield whatsoever.

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