Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen was granted official planning permission for a new stadium and training complex, according to the BBC. Aberdeen City Council's planning department formally approved the £50M ($69.9M) development at Kingsford, near Westhill. The club "hopes to begin construction of the 20,000-capacity stadium in June." Plans were put on hold last October but the council approved them in January. The No Kingsford Stadium protest group is "pursuing a judicial review" (BBC, 4/24). In Glasgow, Darren Cooney reported Aberdeen Chair Stewart Milne told objectors to Aberdeen's new stadium that "they will not succeed." He said, "This is yet another piece of good news in our long-running saga to secure badly needed training and community facilities. ... Despite claims by the objectors, we will be going ahead as we are confident that our plans have gone through the proper channels and democratic process. It's now clear from planning and legal experts that the objectors cannot stop these plans. At best, they could hold them up for a matter of months but ultimately our plans will go ahead" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 4/24).
