A council decision on Dundee FC’s new stadium at Camperdown Park has been delayed.
Dundee City Council’s planning committee were due to make a call on the project this Monday.
Councillors would have considered a recommendation by planning chiefs on whether the plans should be given the green light or not.
However the item, which the Dens Park hierarchy expected to be on the agenda, has been shelved.
This means the earliest the application can now be heard is September 9. Failing that, the matter would be revisited in November.
It cast doubts on managing director John Nelms’ ambition to have the club in the new stadium in 2025.
‘Remove barriers’
Responding to the delay, Nelms and co-owner Tim Keyes say they will continue to work with the local authority to progress the application as smoothly as possible.
A statement from their company Dark Blue Property Holdings said: “Following the awarding of planning permission for the city’s Eden Project on June 20, we received feedback from the council’s planning department on our February [Planning Permission in Principal] submission.
“Since then, we have continued to engage with consultants as well as the planning department to ensure the submission is not only compelling and compliant but enables a more efficient next step in the submission on a full planning application.
“While we are all eager to bring the Camperdown Stadium project to life, we will continue to respect the planning process in the hope that the council observes its stated objective to ‘work with developers to remove barriers’.
“We will soon publish a spectacular visual fly-through of the new stadium to whet the appetite of our fans, alongside a new FAQs section on a new microsite within the existing club website.
“This follows the exciting news last week that the Dundee FC Community Trust has submitted a planning application for a new community training hub at Riverside.
“This will accommodate our extensive community and youth programmes, as well as girls’ and women’s football and the Dundee FC first team.”
Concerns over training complex
Council feedback on Dee’s Planning Permission in Principle application (PPiP) in late June – four and half months after it was submitted – included details of public objections lodged against the plans.
They are understood to include concerns over the use of land earmarked for the proposed training facility.
The first major step in the construction of the new 12,500 stadium took place in May when the former NCR building was demolished.
Its removal helps pave the way for the new ground and other facilities on land next to Camperdown Leisure Park.
Dundee City Council has been approached for comment.
Conversation