Aberdeen Football Club have pulled their application for a multi-million pound new stadium from a crunch council meeting.
City planning chiefs were due to deliver their initial verdict on the proposed replacement home for the Dons this week before a vote by councillors next Wednesday.
High-placed sources indicated that the officials were recommending the full council refuse permission for the huge scheme.
Last night a club spokeswoman said that the 11th hour decision to withdraw, made just six days before the meeting, was to “allow further discussions with the planning service”.
A report including the important planning officers’ recommendation on whether to grant or refuse the £50million Kingsford application had been expected to be publlished on Tuesday.
But the council said the report was “still being finalised” and delayed releasing it.
An insider said that the delay could open the door to legal challenges against the development, if elected members could be shown to have had too little time to consider them.
The planning application, which includes a 20,000-seat stadium, football academy, heritage museum and ancillary works at land between Kingswells and Westhill, has provoked heated debate in the north-east.
Dons bosses have warned that this is their “last chance” having tried to move from their historic Pittodrie home several times in recent years.
Sporting stars as diverse as Gothenburg great Willie Miller, city-born star Denis Law, former Dons boss Sir Alex Fergusson and golf champion Paul Lawrie have voiced their support.
But objectors have raised numerous objections over a loss of green belt land and parking and traffic problems among others.
AFC Chairman Stewart Milne said: “This is a once in a generation project with major implications for the club, the city and the wider region.
“It is also an application with a degree of legal and planning complexity that needs to be carefully considered. We have therefore decided to request that our application be deferred to a future meeting of the full council.”
A council spokeswoman said: “The request has been made to enable the applicant to seek further discussions and clarification to take place with the planning authority.
“If necessary, further planning consultation will follow.”
A statement from No to Kingsford (NKS) group read: “NKS are unsurprised by the applicant’s decision to withdraw the plans for consideration.
“As NKS have stated throughout this process the application breaches many insurmountable planning policies.
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“This is the wrong location for this development. We suggest AFC work with the council to develop a Plan B to find the right location.”
