PLANS for a £50 million football stadium have been delayed after Aberdeen FC was told to provide more information.
The club had hoped the scheme would go to a vote within weeks as it attempts to move from its Pittodrie home.
The plans include the creation of training and community sports facilities at Kingsford, near the city bypass, with terraces set to be open by 2020.
However, it is thought that no decision will be taken until October, after the club was asked to reveal further details on blueprints.
The bid will now be resubmitted and George Yule, the club’s executive vice chairman, said: “We are confident that if planning permission is granted in October we will still meet the original target timescales of completing the community sports campus and football training academy in 2018 and the new stadium for the 2020-21 season.”
Maintenance costs at Aberdeen FC’s current ground are around £700,000 a year and Yule says the new stadium is vital for the future.
He said further delays beyond October could “have a material impact on the club’s ability to recruit and retain talent and to maintain our current position within Scottish football at a time when our football staff are delivering success for the city, the local community and the club”.
He went on: “AFC ensures this region is profiled nationally and internationally and has further plans to enhance its reputation as a visionary organisation, competing successfully in domestic and European competition, with best in class facilities for our supporters, staff and players at all ages.
“We cannot deliver this vision and provide a positive role model for young people without suitable new facilities.”
However, objections have been raised by residents about the impact on traffic and parking. New images have been released of the facings for the proposed stadium, which the club says shows their response to “dialogue” between the club and planners, who had asked for the building to be “softened”.
Yule said: “We provided the additional information requested as part of a positive and co-operative two-way process between the club and the city council, both of whom are committed to ensuring that the application brought forward is considered rigorously against a comprehensive package of supporting information.”
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