Plans to develop car park land around Dumbarton Football Club’s Castle Road stadium have been given the green light by council officials.
The proposals, brought forward by the club’s majority shareholders Brabco 736, were submitted to West Dunbartonshire Council earlier this year, and would see a housing development built in two phases to the east and north ends of the ground.
In the first phase of work five villa style homes behind the goal at the home end of the ground before the development of 32 apartments across two blocks opposite the club’s single stand, despite the planning application stating that the homes would be built on a site that is at known risk of flooding.
Companies House documentation shows that security over the land where the development could be built is held by the club’s former owner, Neil Rankine, who formally resigned as a director in 2006.
The plans were approved despite two objections, with one questioning how the football club would cope with the loss of car parking and the potential impact this could have on residents living on Castle Road which can already become congested on match days.
Speaking about the planned development Sons’ vice-chairman Colin Hosie said: “Our active concern as a club is to secure our own future and also to work in close and cordial partnership with our neighbours, the local community and everyone who has the interests of the town at heart.
“The fine details of this particular planning application are a matter for our owners, in whose name it has been made.
“Our desire as Dumbarton FC is naturally to see financial and development solutions that work for all stakeholders and interested parties.”
The club's owners previously applied to West Dunbartonshire Council to move the football stadium to a new site at Young’s Farm in Renton.
This was rejected with any prospective move now on hold until applications for the 2024 local development plan open in 2021.
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