TWO more parks and a field next to a garden centre are the latest spaces in the sights of developer Eddie Mitchell for his interactive football training arenas.

Having proposed one such high-tech 360-degree arena at Poole’s Whitecliff Park, the former Cherries chairman wants three more in the area before looking to roll them out nationwide, and even globally.

One would be alongside the parking area at Canford Magna Garden Centre in Magna Road, another at Kings Park in Bournemouth, to the west of the athletics track, adjacent to the public path linking the public car park to AFC Bournemouth Stadium. There is also an application in the offing for one at Pelhams Park in Bournemouth as well.

Mr Mitchell’s ESA Limited, which designs and builds the arenas, is behind the plans. They propose 8m circular ICON arenas made up of 60cm aluminium panels, surrounded by a 3m fence.

The idea is that the player stands in the middle and moves to hit targets that flash randomly on the panels with either their hands or ball - triggering noises and colour changing lights.

They can take their pick from various modes, with pre-programmed games lasting for one, two or three minutes followed by a rest period to prevent “over exertion”.

According to the applicants the arena “offers a high intensity cardio vascular workout” which with “regular use will improve fitness.”

Mr Mitchell called the pods “inoffensive” and “robust” and “a great new facility to offer young budding footballers.” He anticipates charging between 25p and 50p per minute - payable via a smartphone app.

“Swings and slides have been around a long time and that’s great for kids - technology has moved on,” he added. “I think this will be a very addictive sport which which will encourage young people to hone their football skills and enjoy themselves.

“It will encourage kids away from their computers and to exercise which is really important.”

He added: “Obviously we’ll have to negotiate with the land owners which is the local authority - if we can agree terms with them, we’ll fit them out and launch it - and I think other local authorities will look at it seriously. “There is no expense for the local authority, in fact its a source of income from the rental of them.

“We want to see if we can achieve planning permission for at least two of the four, get them built and operating, then we want to roll them out as quickly as possible,” he added.