The Scottish Premiership club is hoping to build a £100 million, 12,500-seat, multi-functional stadium and event campus at Camperdown Park. But the ambitious project has hit a significant roadblock over access and exit strategies, which require approval from Transport Scotland before the proposal can be fully heard by Dundee City Council.

Managing director John Nelms revealed that, despite Dundee FC completing comprehensive environmental and ecological assessments and addressing all other planning requirements, the Transport Scotland issue remains the “last remaining” hurdle.

An application for Planning Permission in Principle was submitted in February last year, with the club claiming its “planning in principle on steroids” would contain the information required for a full planning submission.

The application has also been amended to remove the need for a training academy within the development, due to a funding award from DCMS and the Scottish FA for the Dundee FC Community Trust to build a community training hub at Riverside.

Fourteen months later, and despite continued dialogue with the relevant bodies, a decision has yet to materialise.

“We’ve done everything we can,” Nelms said. “We are working on the finer detail with Transport Scotland, but my patience is starting to wane. I’ve written to John Swinney and six other ministers to ask why this can’t be moved forward.”

John Nelms, who alongside American owner Tim Keyes has already overseen nearly £3m in planning investment, believes 14 months should have been ample time to achieve planning in principle. “We thought we would be built by now,” he said. “This is not a deal-breaking issue — it’s solvable. We just want to get in a room, agree on what can be addressed later, and push this through to the next stage.”

With rising construction costs, Nelms now estimates the stadium and surrounding infrastructure will cost between £95m and £100m, with around £55m for the stadium itself, including conferencing and commercial space.

Transport Scotland, however, maintains that the responsibility for providing a robust and effective access strategy lies with the developer.

A spokesperson told SCN: “We remain in dialogue with the developer’s consultants and the Council and will respond when we have the information necessary to support a fully informed and detailed response.”

The spokesperson added: “Neither of the trunk road junction options proposed in recent months has been shown to be effective, and the supporting traffic figures remain open to considerable uncertainty. We have repeatedly shown willingness to engage with the developer to address these issues.”

A Dundee City Council spokesperson told SCN: “The planning application for a stadium and other associated developments is of significant scale and complexity and will require to be considered by councillors at a public meeting of the Planning Committee.
 
“Council officers are awaiting the submission of further information from the applicant, which is needed before a report and recommendation can be presented to the Planning Committee for a decision.”

Campy goes to Hollywood

The delay means Dundee FC is set to remain at its current home, Dens Park, for at least another two years — a disappointing prospect for a club that had hoped to be in its new home by now. Despite this, momentum behind the project continues, with the club recently releasing a promotional film voiced by legendary Dundee-born actor and Succession star Brian Cox OBE.

The stirring film interweaves sepia footage of the historic Archibald Leitch-designed Dens Park with renderings of the futuristic Camperdown venue. “Camperdown, a new place to call home for generations of Dundee supporters,” Cox intones, honouring the club’s past while embracing its future.

“We’re grateful to Brian for bringing such gravitas to our vision,” Nelms said. “We’ve always said this move would honour the Dens legacy. Now it’s time to ensure that vision doesn’t get lost in bureaucratic limbo.”