PROPERTY developer Eddie Mitchell’s latest venture has landed him in hot water with council planners.

The former Cherries chairman is part owner of Elite Skills Arena, a company selling bespoke football training areas, and has invested big bucks in a prototype built in the garden of the Severn Developments’ Thunderbird House in Branksome Park.

 

The only trouble is it hasn’t got planning permission – and he could be made to tear it down.

An application for the “garden room” as it was described in the planning documents, came before Borough of Poole planners on Thursday – who voted to refuse retrospective planning permission.

Planning committee chairman Philip Eades, inset, said members did not believe that the single storey structure, which has a teardrop footprint, was solely for the use of the occupiers of the home – as set out in the planning application.

He told the Echo: “The grounds for refusing this application are, quite frankly, the members did not believe that this is a garden room for purposes incidental to enjoyment of the property.

“We believe that this a commercial operation, and that there is potential for disturbance to neighbours by way of noise and extra traffic in the area. And fundamentally the whole thing is inappropriate in a conservation area.”

But Eddie quickly hit back, saying at present the prototype does not represent a commercial venture as no-one is being charged to use it. He also said Thunderbird House has been sold and that he would be appealing the planning department’s decision on behalf of the home’s new owner.

“Borough of Poole has got this wrong, this is not a commercial venture in as much as we do not charge to use it. It is not our house, it has been sold and we only have access to it until March and after that it will be used as a garden room by the owner.”

Eddie says the arena was built before the house was sold, but the new owner said he liked the arena and asked for it to be finished.

“Initially, the idea was to learn as much as we could about this before dismantling it and taking it into a factory. We are still developing it, there’s still a long way to go and it will be finished by March, after which we won’t have access to the house.”

Report raises ‘concerns about intended use’

THE planning report before councillors notes that the building had “already been used to publicise the product” – raising “concerns about its intended use”.

It clearly features on Elite Skills Arena’s slick-looking company website, which shows photos of their 360-degree prototype arena with an invitation to potential customers to come and see it for themselves.

The circular arena, which was four months in development, features a 4G surface and has LED reactive lighting set within the wall, which provides players with targets at various different heights. The company produces a range of models – from mini versions for children learning basic skills to deluxe double-decker versions with a price tag of up to £8million. Players can train by themselves or can compete against each other and the top-end models can include an analysis room to record players’ data.