Revised AFC Bournemouth training ground plans approved

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

Plans for a new training ground for Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth have been approved.

The club had submitted revised plans for the facility on the 57-acre former Canford Magna Golf Club site.

They were unanimously agreed by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council's planning committee.

The ground will include nine full-size pitches, an indoor artificial surface as well as medical and sports science facilities.

Bournemouth's first team, development squad, academy and pre-academy training operations will all operate from the complex, along with its media and administration staff.

The proposals also include an indoor and an outdoor artificial playing surface

Cherries' chief executive Neill Blake said it would be "state-of-the-art in its design and facilities".

"It is a hugely important scheme, as it will help continue the club's progression at the highest level of football, which will in turn have a positive effect on the region as a whole.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for the club, both on and off the pitch."

The plans had initially included 10 full-size pitches but this was scaled back to nine. However, three goalkeeper pitches were added.

In December 2017, before Dorset's nine councils merged into two unitary authorities, the now defunct Borough of Poole council initially granted planning permission for the centre.

The club had announced in October 2018 that plans to build the training ground - and a new stadium in King's Park, close to their current Vitality Stadium home - had been put on hold because they were "overly optimistic" at the time, adding any future development would "be undertaken around a healthy financial strategy".