Controversial plans to move Dumbarton Football Club to the outskirts of Renton look to have hit the buffers until at least 2024.
The long-standing proposals for a £13.5m stadium development at Young’s Farm in Dalmoak will be back on ice for the foreseeable future.
The area was retained as greenbelt on West Dunbartonshire Council’s local development plan (LDP), which was submitted to the Scottish Government last month.
In the report officers state that the site “has a significant green belt function” and its out-of-town location would leave the new venue “highly dependent on private car journeys” with “any urban development on this site likely to be damaging in landscape terms, particularly due to the erosion of the green belt gap between Dumbarton and Renton”.
The report also highlights concerns over the financial viability of the plans if they went ahead without a 200-property development that was initially meant to fund the move.
This is the latest in a long run of blows to the club’s St Helens-based owners, Brabco 736, who introduced plans to move the club from their current Castle Road home to supporters in November 2012.
Then proposals included a 4000 capacity stadium, 200 new homes, business facilities, a hotel and a collection of community use artificial pitches.
However, the plans were rejected by West Dunbartonshire Council planning officers in March 2018 and Brabco later submitted a “slender” application for a much smaller development at the same site.
Last summer it was revealed that Brabco, which own 75 per cent of shares in the Castle Road side but are without a representative on the board, had applied for Young’s Farm to be kept on the LDP “with the knowledge but not the involvement of the club”.
At the same time, Brabco had also advertised their shareholding to potential bidders.
Directors were believed to be split on their valuation of the club, with some valuing their shareholding at around £1.5m and one said to value it at closer to £4m.
Last year it was claimed that they had property offers in the region of £1.2m which were rejected, while a £750,000 bid which would see the club follow a similar fan ownership model to St Mirren was also swiftly declined.
The planned move was an unpopular one with many supporters of the club, with one fan arguing: “I will always fight this stadium move because I’m a Son of the Rock and that would take us to Renton” during a heated meeting last year.
