THIS is Poole Town’s vision of the future. The football club has submitted its plans for a new £2m stadium on the outskirts of town.

Should the scheme win council approval, the Dolphins could play their first game at their new Canford Magna ground next season.

It would mark the end of the nomadic non-league club’s 17-year hunt for a permanent new home.

Chris Reeves, the Poole Town vice-chairman, said: “It will be a fantastic facility for the town, let alone the football club.

“I would like to think the council would be proud of the club that bears its name.”

The bright future being planned is a marked contrast to the club’s despair of just a year ago. Plans for a ground at Branksome Rec were halted at the eleventh hour by the council’s planning board.

The club found itself £20,000 out of pocket and still searching for that elusive permanent home.

But the new proposals for the site off Magna Road, currently used each Sunday for a car boot sale, have so far been greeted with cautious optimism.

“It is so refreshing to see this scheme being embraced,” said Mr Reeves. “The response so far has been pretty positive.”

The new ground would be set back from the main road, to minimise its visual impact on the surroundings.

As well as the new ground, there would be facilities available to the wider community, including an all-weather games pitch, as well as parking for 156 cars.

The club remains a priority for funding from the FA and Football Foundation, while around £17,000 poured into the coffers on the Dolphins’ recent FA Cup run.

Unsuitable facilities at their current Tatnam Farm base have cost the back-to-back Wessex Premier Division champions the opportunity to be promoted to the next level in the past two seasons.