THE father of a teenage tennis ace from Dunblane who has been forced to move to the US for training said locals "should be desperate" to have Judy Murray's multi-million pound sports facility on their doorstep.
Lee Collins, whose 15-year-old daughter Ali abandoned the UK in August to pursue her tennis ambitions at the renowned Academia Sánchez-Casal in Florida, said he was baffled by the opposition to the proposed Park of Keir tennis and golf development.
Stirling Council will rule on the planning application today, but officials have already recommended that it be refused. More than 1,000 locals and organisations have objected to the proposals, which include homes and a hotel, and say it breaches greenbelt land rules.
However, Mr Collins, 41, a former professional footballer, said: "They are providing a state-of-the-art facility on Dunblane's doorstep with Judy Murray's name behind it.
"If Andy Murray was American and they wanted to set up a facility like that in his name here [in the United States], I don't think you would get this sort of attitude. They would welcome it with open arms."
Lanarkshire-born Ali, who is ranked among the top 200 players in the world for the under-18 age group, moved to Naples, Florida in August this year to attend the academy after impressing its founder Emilio Sanchez, who coached a teenage Andy Murray at his Barcelona facility.
However, tuition and fees run to tens of thousands of pounds a year which her family have had to raise themselves through sponsorship, after the UK's Lawn Tennis Association said it would not fund overseas training.
Mr Collins, who moved with his family from Airdrie to Dunblane 13 years ago, said Scotland should have learned lessons from Murray's own experience.
He said: "What I can't understand is that it happened to Andy 13 to 14 years ago and it's happened to a few kids in between times and now it's happened to Ali, where she's had to go away because there just isn't the depth of talent here. There's not enough players coming through at the top because there's not enough people playing at grassroots level.
"I'm not for one minute saying Ali is going to be the next Andy, but when you want to progress you need to spar with more players and when you get to that level and there's not enough players to spar with then it becomes really difficult.
"Nothing is ever going to change unless something like this Park of Keir happens, but the biggest thing about it is Judy. To have her passion and her knowledge and her knowhow behind that is just phenomenal - people should be desperate for it."
Yesterday Murray tweeted his support for the project, describing it as a "massive opportunity for the community, for sport and for the next generation". It comes a week after he criticised the LTA in the wake of Britain's Davis Cup victory, saying it was a "waste of time" talking to them about talent development.
The Park of Keir development, which is also backed by Colin Montgomerie, has faced fierce opposition with more than 1,000 local people and organisations submitting objections to the council. Planners said it breaches Greenbelt land rules, while opponents argue it will erode the geographical distinction between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.
The plan, which originally envisaged 100 homes, has been slashed to 19 with the remainder of the land to be bequeathed to the Scottish Woodland Trust to negate future housing development.
The revised proposals also incorporate a cyclepath, a footpath, a Murray tennis museum, five-star hotel and play area, along with a "pay-as-you-play" sports facility housing six indoor and six outdoor courts, a six-hole golf course with a practice range, mini golf, and a 3G community football pitch.
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