Sports facility plan dropped after youth football fears

The pitches at Kincorth are used by hundreds of people every week [BBC] Plans for a sports facility in Aberdeen will not proceed after concerns it would take over pitches already used by hundreds of youth footballers. A new all-weather Cruyff Court had been planned for the Kincorth area but it has now been agreed the council will look at using a disused bowling green instead. It was also agreed plans would proceed to develop other Cruyff Court sites elsewhere in the city.

Local teams have welcomed the decision after months of campaigning to save their pitches. More stories from North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Listen to news from North East Scotland on BBC Sounds There are already three Cruyff Courts in Aberdeen. They offer 24-hour access to small-scale, all-weather football and basketball facilities.

The idea was set up by the Johan Cruyff Foundation - founded by the Dutch international who died in 2016. Aberdeen City Council's (ACC) finance and resources committee agreed to not proceed with the plans in Kincorth following engagement with the local community. Kincorth AFC and Kincorth Emirates Youth - who use the pitches on the originally proposed site - said last year that a pitch used by hundreds of children would be lost as a result.

It was feared teams might have to disband. Dani Kindness from the club told BBC Scotland News he hoped lessons would be learned by ACC and there was a sense of relief the plans had been shelved. He added: "It is tight space for the amount of teams we have, so we were concerned it would take up too much room and we would lose pitches as a result.