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Council could block Dundee football centre plan because it fears the competition

The vacant unit at Baldovie Industrial Estate that Active Soccer wants to turn into a sports centre.
The vacant unit at Baldovie Industrial Estate that Active Soccer wants to turn into a sports centre.

Plans for a new sports centre between Douglas and Whitfield could be blocked because the council fears it would compete with its own facilities.

Active Soccer’s plans to create a specialist indoor football centre, complete with five 3G football pitches and a multi-sport pitch, have been backed by both Dundee and Dundee United FC but not by city planners.

The potential impact on the yet-to-be-built “regional performance centre for sport” as well as community sports hubs has been put forward as an objection from Leisure and Culture Dundee.

This is the third time an application has been submitted for the site at Baldovie Industrial Estate but this time it has the backing of Active Soccer, a Prince’s Trust-supported group that trains young people in football.

The application, which is due to come before the council’s development management committee on Monday, is recommended for refusal.

The report to be considered by councillors summarises the Leisure and Culture Dundee objection.

It says: “Following the previous refusal of planning permission and prior to the submission of the current application there have been further leisure and sports developments in the city.

“These developments include community sports hubs as well as the proposed Regional Performance Centre for Sport, the viability of which would be compromised by a further indoor football and multi-sport centre within the city.”

However, Bob Hynd, of LJR&H Architects in Dundee, said: “Dundee is sadly lacking in indoor football facilities. The gym halls the council owns can be adapted but the facilities are not the same.

“The commercial viability of other facilities should not be a consideration in the planning process.”

The site at Forties Road is between two of the city’s most deprived areas Whitfield and Douglas and it already has a change of use for indoor go-karting. The building has been sitting empty for years and was recently targeted by fire-raisers.

Council planners say the land should be kept for industrial use and that any development of this kind should be located in the city centre, or other existing leisure parks.

However, Mr Hynd said there were no viable alternatives for the proposal, short of building a completely new building, which was unfeasible.

He added that since previous applications, other industrial units covered by the same policy have been improved, including the successful Manhattan Works, operated as part of Showcase the Street.

A spokesman for Leisure and Culture Dundee said: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on this ongoing planning process.”