A £30,000 high-tech football training arena could be coming to Poole’s Whitecliff Park under proposals from former Cherries chairman Eddie Mitchell.

Following on from his radical idea for a sand sports stadium at Sandbanks, comes a new plan for a permanent pay-as-you-play 360-degree footballing facility with interactive lights and sounds at Whitecliff.

Mr Mitchell is part owner of Elite Skills Arena or ESA, which is applying for permission to install one of their ‘ICON’ arenas to the eastern edge of Whitecliff park, just south of the car park near Sandbanks Road.

The arena would be made up of 60mm high aluminium panels in a 8m diameter circle, flanked all around by a 3m fence.

The idea is that a player stands in the middle, moving to hit targets that flash randomly on the panels using either their hands or a ball, triggering sounds and colour-changing lights when a target is hit.

According to the planning documents it “complements the leisure and active character of the area, and the scale of the proposal does not detract from its surrounding.”

But it has already attracted a handful of objections from local residents.

John Herbert of Sandbanks Road wrote it was “out of keeping” and referred to “potential intrusion” from the light and sound elements.

Another resident commented: “I’m sure neighbours would not welcome the constant noise of a football being kicked against aluminium panels.”

And the Society of Poole Men said: “It is not in the public interest to convert yet more public land into an area controlled by private interests.”

Mr Mitchell told the Echo: “It’s about young people coming away from their computers and competing. And anyone can go in there and have a five minute blast - it’s good for everybody. It will assist them no end in becoming better footballers.”

He said usage would cost between 25p and 50p per minute - payable via a smartphone app - with sessions expected to last five minutes.

Similar arenas had already been snapped up by buyers in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the US, added Mr Mitchell: “At the moment we can’t make them quick enough to meet demand.”

An almost identical application to install such a facility in Poole Park was withdrawn in July.