Dundee managing director John Nelms claims he is ready to use his own shovel to start building their new stadium as he urged Transport Scotland to show more urgency to end an impasse.
Nelms wants backing on one of two proposals for road access to the Camperdown Park development to progress the planning application in principle, which has been sitting with Dundee City Council since February 2024. The vision includes a 12,500-seat stadium, hotel and residential development.
However, the public transport body is not satisfied with the information.
Nelms told the PA news agency: “It’s been going around in a circle for several months now. I’m a very patient man but my patience is not finite.
“Basically, we’ve done full planning, full environmental impact, drainage, everything you can think of, we have done. And so we call it planning in principle on steroids, and we have this one point left after 14 months.
“So we’ve asked Transport Scotland, can we get around the table? I’ve asked personally, how do we take the very next step?
“If we’re agreed in principle on the entrance, that’s all we need to have at this point. We can work on the finer details, and we’re talking about the minute detail of the actual intersection. We can do that after we get to planning.
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“We’ve asked for a meeting with Transport Scotland and we’ve asked them to tell us which one’s acceptable, and from that, we can give you everything you need.
“I think both of us are quite comfortable that one of the two works, but we just need to have the finer detail beyond that.”
But Transport Scotland is not satisfied with the club’s assessment of the impact of their access plans on the road network.
A spokesperson said: “Neither of the trunk road junction options proposed in recent months has been shown to be effective and the supporting traffic figures remain open to considerable uncertainty. It sits wholly with the developer and their consultants to settle these issues and present stakeholders with a coherent plan.
“We have repeatedly shown willingness to engage with the developer to address these issues, but they have yet to provide the information necessary that would allow us to give a definitive response to their proposals.
“We remain in discussions with the local authority about the lack of progress the developers and their consultants are making.”
Nelms, who owns a majority stake in the club alongside fellow American Tim Keyes, feels there should be more willingness to help the project and has approached First Minister John Swinney to help get things moving.
“The entire project is funded by us,” he said. “We’re not asking for government funding, although when you see the economic impact this has, I’m surprised that government isn’t trying to help us fund it and get it over the line.
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“Here’s a project that brings 400 construction jobs, 300 full-time jobs. We have over £100million worth of investment, £160million worth of value.
“But now we’re at 14 months and we’d like to get a spade in the ground. We feel like we’ve been going around in a hamster wheel for the last couple of months.
“The funders are waiting for the green light because we have several different options that we can take, which hasn’t always been the case.
“Once we get past this stage then it won’t take long at all. Because I want to use my own shovel and I want to use it on my own land.”
