DETAILED plans for Sunderland AFC's proposed training academy were submitted for council scrutiny yesterday.

The club has already won outline planning approval for its multi-million pound Academy of Light, within the 65-acre Whitburn Moor Farm, on green belt land north of Sunderland.

The latest application gives more detailed designs for buildings, including rehabilitation, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy facilities, media and education training rooms, and changing areas.

Opponents of the development, from communities bordering the site, at Whitburn, Cleadon and Seaburn Dene, claim the academy would prove intrusive in the narrow green belt separating Sunderland and South Tyneside.

Club architects have worked to ensure the proposed buildings are in keeping with the rural nature of the site, incorporating "appropriate" architectural features to the roofs and exterior elevations.

They believe it will be less intrusive than existing site buildings, with the academy lowered into the ground by one floor, reducing the height above surface level to minimise visual impact.

The proposals put to South Tyneside council include demolition of the farmhouse and three cottages, to be replaced by three blocks.

They would be surrounded by extensive tree planting and mounding to ensure the academy remains almost hidden from public view.

Sunderland AFC chairman Bob Murray said the club had worked closely with the council throughout the planning process to ensure the academy met everyone's needs.

He said: "It will have the very best facilities, developed with the environment at the forefront of our minds.

"I believe these final details of the proposed buildings will illustrate how the new development will make a positive contribution to the area."

Mr Murray said environmentalist Dr David Bellamy, and bodies including the Great North Forest and Northumbrian Water had backed the scheme.