Penzance Council has taken on the management of Princess May Recreation Ground from Cornwall Council.

This stage of devolution has been a long time in the making and a lot of hard work and perseverance has gone into making it a reality. Princess May is used by lots of households and families in Penzance East and Penzance Council want to make the space better for everyone to enjoy. 

James Hardy, Penzance Town Clerk, said “Cllr Melville Durrant and the Princess May Recreation CIC volunteers have worked tirelessly for years to help maintain the Rec. Melville is sadly missed by so many following his tragic passing earlier in the summer. We were both involved in the original development of the Rec in 2005 when the skatepark and play facilities were installed.  

“This is another new start for the Rec, the transfer from Cornwall Council comes with a Devolution Grant and we will be working to bring more investment and improvement over time to continue Melville’s work”. 

Working closely with the Princess May Recreation CIC, Penzance Council hope to build on the successful devolution of other sites in the parish, like Alexandra Play Park and Tennis Courts on the promenade and the Foxes Lane play area in Mousehole, where they have undertaken improvement projects and increased maintenance programmes to ensure they are kept to a much higher standard.

“The handover of the Rec is a landmark moment, bringing this much-loved public open space back firmly into the control of the local community” said Cllr Stephen Reynolds, mayor of Penzance. 

“The volunteers at the Princess May Recreation CIC deserve enormous credit for their commitment to the Rec over many years, and I’m really pleased that they will be working in partnership with Penzance Council to look after the Rec going forward. 

“We now have a great opportunity to work with the local community to invest in improvements that will make the Rec an even better place for current and future generations to enjoy.” 

Over the coming months, Penzance Council will look at how the site is currently managed and how they can do things differently so that everyone can benefit from the open space. To do this, they want to hear from the community and local partners on how they would like the rec to be maintained, how the space is used, and what improvements are needed for the future.  

Cllr Nadine Tonner, Penzance Councillor for Penzance East Ward added: “This excellent result is another demonstration of what local community and working together can do to make positive changes happen. The local community now have the opportunity to decide how they want this shared space to be used. The ideas and range of recreational activities already mentioned can only bring us all together.”