ANGUS councillors have approved the planning application for Montrose's new £10million swimming pool.
The application for the extension to the Sports Centre in Marine Avenue went before Angus Council's development standards committee on Tuesday and was approved.
Permission is now in place for the new swimming pool complex with associated interna
l accommodation and a new frontage with an entrance to both facilities.
The plans also include an extended car parking area on a section of grassland to the west of the existing car park, currently owned by the Montrose Common Good fund.
Several groups and users of the current facility had expressed concerns over the proposals before the design and funding package was approved by the council in July.
But no objections were received about the planning application. Montrose Community Council was also consulted but offered no comment on the proposal.
The complex will add an additional 4200 square metres of floor space over two levels, including a 25-metre, six-lane main pool and a smaller 13 metres by seven metres studio pool, with a wet changing facility and heating and ventilation plant.
The new frontage will take the abstract form of a wave with a centrally-positioned entrance tower, due to the building's close proximity to the coast.
Planners have said the new proposal will significantly improve the range and quality of sports and recreational opportunities and will meet an identified community need at a location where there would be no significant impact on residential amenity.
The report, which went before the councillors, said the footprint of the proposed extension will, to a large extent, utilise land which is currently undeveloped within the fenced area of the Academy and does not encroach onto surrounding grassland/public open space.
The council expects the building to make a strong design statement when complete, sandwiched between the modern Academy extension and the existing Sports Centre.
