JUDY Murray's plans for a multi-million-pound tennis and golf centre have been dealt a major blow after an official council report said it could not support the development.
An application for planning permission for the sporting superhub at Park of Keir, between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane, was lodged in July by a group led by Mrs Murray, the mother of former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, and golf star and former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.
It includes proposals for 100 luxury houses; a museum and visitor centre; indoor and outdoor tennis courts; a golf course with clubhouse and practice areas; and a hotel with leisure and conference facilities.
However, the new report, a 10-page planning and policy consultation document by Claire Milne, principal planning officer at Stirling Council, says the proposal runs counter to the local authority's planning policies on greenbelt areas and "cannot be supported in policy terms".
It says: "The countryside and greenbelt between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane is particularly sensitive in a local context, and plays an important role in maintaining the distinct identity of Dunblane from Bridge of Allan.
"The proposed main land uses would be contrary to local and national policy on development in the countryside and greenbelts, and should not be supported unless there is considered to be an overriding national requirement or established need for the development that could not be satisfied elsewhere."
Park of Keir Partners, comprising Mrs Murray, Montgomerie and King Group, claims the plan will create 170 new full-time jobs and 600 man-years of employment during the construction phase. However, hundreds of people have objected to the development.
Ms Milne's report says there is concern about the plan to offer housing land to "high end" builders "in order to secure a land sale to pump prime the funding required for both the wider infrastructure and the initial construction phases of the tennis and golf facilities".
She said: "The proposed housing is not intended to meet any local affordable or particular housing needs, and will in fact exacerbate [the problem of] affordability in the local area.
"Although it is accepted the tennis, golf, tourism and recreational element of this development proposal may provide a degree of social as well as economic benefit to the local area, what is proposed is essentially a private commercial venture.
"The submitted business case is not sufficiently convincing to warrant approval of the proposed housing. The net economic benefits of the proposed development are considerably outweighed by the significant detrimental costs to the environment and the lack of physical and social infrastructure to support the development.
"On this basis the development cannot be supported in policy terms."
A spokesman for the plan's opponents Rage - Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion - said: "This report is a vindication of everything we have said. In the face of this response and more than 600 letters of objection we assume the council will see fit to reject this inappropriate application."
A spokesman for Park of Keir said: "As part of any planning application process, it is normal practice for planning officers to review the application in relation to the council's planning policy in the first instance.
"We plan to meet with the council's planning officers to address a number of the comments in this report and we remain confident our proposed development represents sufficient benefit to the people of the area, and Scotland as a whole, to allow members of the planning committee to approve our application."
Councillors will consider the application at a later date, and it is likely to end up with Scottish ministers making the final decision. The plan has been publicly backed by the Lawn Tennis Association, the Professional Golfers Association, and Tennis Scotland.
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