ONE of Scotland’s most prominent Green Party politicians has condemned Judy Murray’s plans for a multimillion-pound tennis and golf centre in the countryside near Andy and Jamie’s home town of Dunblane.
MSP Mark Ruskell said the proposal – for a 12-court indoor and outdoor tennis centre, trainer golf course, “Murray” museum, and country park, funded by 19 “millionaire-sized” homes and a 150-bedroom hotel, gym and spa – was “not sustainable”.
Mr Ruskell, who is also a local councillor for Dunblane and the neighbouring town of Bridge of Allan, said the tennis academy itself “may be a good idea, but it is in completely the wrong location”.
Read more: Judy Murray - It is now or never for sporting super hub
The MSP, the Greens’ spokesman on climate, energy, environment, food and farming, said Mrs Murray’s plans would be “a permanent suburbanisation of a designed landscape which forms a strong part of the identity and sense of place of both Dunblane and Bridge of Allan”.
He said the development, which would be built on “much-treasured” green fields at Park of Keir, near Dunblane, would “represent an irrevocable change to the form and function of the green-belt between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan that will degrade the area for future generations”. He said neither would the proposal be “low carbon”, with a hoped-for 270,000 visitors a year, the vast majority coming by car. He added: “Park of Keir frames the landscape of Stirling and the wooded hills form the gateway as travellers rise up from the carse lands towards the Highland landscapes beyond.
Read more: Judy Murray - It is now or never for sporting super hub
“This proposal, in this location is inherently unsustainable; it does not reflect either existing or emerging policy and has at best a tenuous link with local sporting and economic ambitions.
“Moreover it represents a permanent change in the nature and function of this land that has helped formed the identity of Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and the wider Stirling area for generations.
“Out of any available site in Scotland that could be realistically considered for a development such as this, Park of Keir would be one of the most controversial.”
In an earlier exchange at the planning inquiry, objectors’ solicitor Colin Innes compared the planned Murray tennis centre to a Nazi prisoner of war camp.
Mr Innes, representing an adjacent landowner, said it would be “lit up like Stalag 17” – the fictional camp in the 1953 Billy Wilder movie, starring William Holden.
Read more: Judy Murray - It is now or never for sporting super hub
Planning consultant John Handley, who is representing the developers, said the area was already lit up by the motorway lights of the nearby Keir Roundabout.
The inquiry, which is being held following rejection of Mrs Murray’s proposals by Stirling Council last year, continues.
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