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AFC Bournemouth submits amendments to proposed training complex

Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth has submitted amended plans for its new multi-million pound training complex.

The club has sent the revised proposals for the build on the 57-acre former Canford Magna Golf Club site to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

If approved, it said the development would begin with “immediate effect.”

AFC Bournemouth has scaled back its original plans to include 10 full-size pitches to nine, with three goalkeeper pitches added. These revisions have been submitted as an amendment to the existing permission, which was granted in December 2017.

The proposals also include an indoor and an outdoor artificial playing surface, as well as medical, fitness, sports science and rehabilitation facilities and a press conference theatre.

Bournemouth’s first team, development squad, academy and pre-academy training operations and facilities will all operate from the complex.

AFC Bournemouth chief executive, Neill Blake, said: “Submitting these amended, improved plans is another important step forward for the future of this football club.

“This training centre will be part of the board’s legacy and the plans illustrate that the facilities available to all levels of the club, from pre-academy all the way through to the first team, will be among the best in the Premier League.

“We are looking forward to these plans being approved by the council and work starting immediately.”

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council corporate director for regeneration and economy, Bill Cotton, said: “We will continue to work positively with AFC Bournemouth and as the local planning authority we look forward to receiving the amended plan for the proposed new training ground at Canford Magna.

“This will be considered in line with local planning policy.”

Images: AFL Architects