New layout proposed for £21m sport centre following Dundee FC withdrawal

Dundee City Council is to discuss a proposed new layout for a planned £21 million regional sport centre after Dundee Football Club pulled out of the project.The club withdrew its interest in using the new Regional Performance Centre for Sport at the city’s Caird Park in December and is now working with the council to find an alternative location.An official planning application for the centre was submitted in July and councillors were due to decide on the application in November but the proposal was withdrawn from the committee agenda because of a last-minute legal objection.Councillors on the policy and resources committee are to be told that the move has allowed an opportunity to “address the planning issues and to reduce the impacts which are leading to the majority of the objections made”.Councillors will be told that the alterations will form the basis of an amended planning application, which is expected to be considered by the development management committee in the summer of this year.An assessment has been carried out on relocating the performance centre facilities to the south end of the Caird Park site, where the Dundee FC training ground was to be located.The committee will also hear that further public consultation will be undertaken on the amended proposal before the development management committee meets.The council also intends to seek further screening direction from the Scottish Government as to whether the amended proposal would require an Environmental Impact Assessment.The committee will also be told that given the nature of the new proposals, the existing tender process has been collapsed and will instead be pursued through the SCAPE Framework. This is a scheme that is already being used to procure the programme of new schools and also costal protection works.