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John Nelms explains Riverside boost for Dundee stadium plan as Dens chief reveals new hearing date

The Dark Blues managing director is delighted to get the go-ahead for a new training centre as he opens up on impact on Camperdown Park plans.

Dundee managing director John Nelms. Image: Mark Scates/SNS
Dundee managing director John Nelms. Image: Mark Scates/SNS

Dundee’s chances of planning approval for their new stadium at Camperdown Park have been boosted, says Dens chief John Nelms.

The green light given to plans for a bespoke training complex at Riverside Drive has removed 85% of the issues related to the new ground according to the club’s managing director.

Now the Dark Blues’ community trust has approval to build the new training centre by 15 votes to five, plans at Camperdown will be tweaked.

Nelms sat down with the media to explain the thinking behind the change and what Riverside will mean for the club.

He also explained the delay behind Dundee City Council’s decision on the Camperdown development and revealed the expected date for that hearing.

‘Huge step’

“It’s a huge step for the football club,” Nelms said of the Riverside project at the club’s current training centre at Dundee and Angus College.

Images released of Dundee FC Community Trust's proposed new Riverside training centre
Images released of Dundee FC Community Trust’s proposed new Riverside training centre. Image: DFCCT

“When we took over the organisation in 2013, we were training at a public park.

“Now we have the relationship with the college. Our relationship here has just been fantastic.

“Having the utilisation of all that the college has, has been fantastic.

“But for the football club to have our own home and the young kids being able to see and aspire to be there, to be at your home, it’s invaluable.”

The proposed community football hub is situated at the city's Riverside pitches. Image: Dundee FC Community Trust/LJRH Architects
The proposed community football hub is situated at the city’s Riverside pitches. Image: Dundee FC Community Trust/LJRH Architects

He added: “This facility is going to be great, not just for the football club but for the community.

“Football is a great catalyst to get the community together and raise up the community.

“I think we’ve done that over the years and that’s all credit to everybody that’s been a part of our charity.

“This is going to be great, it’s going to have us, the Dundee FC Community Trust and Riverside West End.

“So the utilisation of that site now is going to go through the roof for the local community.”

Timescale

Now the club have got the answer they desired from the council, how soon will people be able to use the facility?

“We were very aggressive on this,” Nelms explained.

“Usually you start doing building control works and documents after you get planning, but we started this two months early.

“That was a risk but we started that work so we can get this thing moving as quickly as possible.

Dundee managing director John Nelms and owner Tim Keyes. Image: SNS.
Dundee managing director John Nelms and owner Tim Keyes. Image: SNS.

“Updating the football pitches we can do relatively quickly, immediately.

“But we want to make sure we can secure it first, start working on the pitches and then the plastic pitch and the building itself will come out as we get building approval.

“We can start working on the pitches sooner rather than later.

“The idea is hopefully by the summer, the teams will be utilising the pitches.

“The building will be there or thereabouts, but it may or may not be complete because there’s still some hoops we have to jump through.”

‘We listened’

As well as the benefits a new training centre will have for Dundee and the surrounding community, the thumbs-up to get building at Riverside has a knock-on effect at Camperdown.

No longer will the plans for the new stadium include a training facility and Nelms says he expects that will smooth out a large proportion of issues at Camperdown.

The Dundee chief said: “When we had our public consultation, we had circa 100 people write in to say we’re not quite happy with this. And we had over 300 that said [they] are.

An image of Dundee's planned new stadium at Camperdown Park. Image: Holmes Miller Architects. .. George Cran/DCT Media Date; 20/08/2024
An image of Dundee’s planned new stadium at Camperdown Park. Image: Holmes Miller Architects.

“But out of that 100, the majority of the issue was we’re building our training centre inside Camperdown Park, and they weren’t keen on that.

“So we listened. We worked with the city council. They proposed a different location.

“And with the partnerships that we have with the SFA, with their levelling up monies and the city itself and the community and the trust, it worked out. It was a lot of work.

“It’s very nerve-wracking to have one that we’ve been working on, and then you have this other one.

“But it allows us to be in a place where the council has said, yep, we like you there.

New 3D and artist's impression images of Dundee FC's new Camperdown stadium. Supplied by Dundee FC.
The original plans had a training centre included on the west side of the plot. Image: Dundee FC.

“They voted to say we like you there.

“And now we can alleviate the fears of [those] that were concerned about that being up in our stadium project.

“There are different aspects of negativity for any project but in this case we’ve listened and answered the question to about 85% of the negativity about that site.”

Hearing date

Through their company, Dark Blue Property Holdings, the Dundee owners submitted their planning permission in principle application for the Camperdown site back in February.

The original hearing date was slated for August 12 but has since been pushed back, without a further date announced.

Concept image of Dundee's new stadium at Camperdown Park. Image: Holmes Miller Architects
Concept image of Dundee’s new stadium at Camperdown Park. Image: Holmes Miller Architects.

The expectation is it will now be into 2025 before that hearing takes place.

“[The application has] been in there since February. They’ve (the council) been working hand in hand with us. It’s the process. It’s not the people,” Nelms added.

“We’re hopeful we’re going to have our hearing in January.

“There’s a couple of technical things that they’ve been working through.

“I was in a meeting a month and a half ago with 23 people in the room and the endeavour was to potentially get it in December but most likely it was going to be January.

“And that’s what it looks like. We’ll have the hearing in January.”

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