JUDY Murray will attempt to gain the support of residents as she plans to build Scotland's first purpose-built Tennis and Golf Centre on green belt land.
Murray, along with golfer Colin Montgomerie, has outlined ambitious plans for the new centre, which would include 12 tennis courts and a nine-hole golf course, at the 18th-century Park Of Keir between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.
However, the 270-acre site has previously been a controversial battleground between developers and local community groups.
Residents have previously resisted any plans to build housing in the area, which could effectively join the two towns together.
Auchterarder-based developer A&L King has revealed it also hopes to build houses on the ancestral land, once owned by the Stirlings of Keir.
The 270-acre park once formed part of the boyhood home of the late Sir David Stirling, the Second World War hero and founder of the SAS.
In 1990, plans for a £70 million housing, tourism and business park on the spot split the community and led, after three years of struggle by the Stop Park of Keir group, to a 35-day public inquiry before the plans were scrapped. Further development plans were thwarted in 2003, 2004 and 2008.
Murray, mother of current Wimbledon champion Andy, will attend two consultation events later this month aimed at persuading people to back the plans.
Murray said: "This is a once-in-a generation chance for us to create a fantastic community tennis and golf destination that is affordable and accessible to everyone. We really hope that as many people as possible take the opportunity to come along and see for themselves what the project is all about."
When the plans were announced, Park of Keir Friends secretary Ann Shaw, said: "This is a very controversial area. It is green belt land and if houses were built there it would join up two distinct communities.
"We're keen to keep them separate - everybody is. So our position has not changed. We object to housing on that site."
Mark Ruskell, Green councillor for Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, has indicated he will oppose a residential development, saying: "The outcome of the last public inquiry was crystal clear in rejecting any housing on the site."
Consultation events will be held at Dunblane Community Centre on October 12 and at the Allan Centre on October 26.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article