http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/spo...-19742,00.html

MARIBYRNONG council has hit out at allegations that it had threatened the Western Bulldogs' future, saying the club was at fault. The Bulldogs last night revealed they had asked the state government to intervene in a planning dispute with the council that threatened the club's financial future.

Dogs CEO Campbell Rose said that if the government had not stepped in yesterday to over-rule the City of Maribyrong regarding planning permits for the proposed Elite Learning Centre, the club faced the prospect of a half-finished administration building and a $6 million bill.

The council has reacted angrily today, saying it had not refused a planning permit for the development and that poor management of the project was the cause of the club's woes.

"The Bulldogs call themselves ‘the community club’ – but due to their own mismanagement, our community will not receive what they desperately need," Maribyrnong mayor Cr Michelle MacDonald said today.

The council said the Bulldogs had only filed the planning application in April and knew permission could not be given until September as the proposal had to be taken to the community.

“We are a project partner of the Whitten Oval re-development and for the sake of our community, we want this project to occur. However the Bulldogs organisation has bungled the management of the redevelopment," Cr MacDonald said.

"It’s been reported our council has refused to provide a planning permit for the proposal. This is not true."

The council also said it had not reneged on a commitment to provide $1 million to the project.

"The Bulldogs commenced the redevelopment over two years ago, knowing that they did not have the money to complete the project. We’ve made repeated efforts over the last two years to help the Bulldogs pull the Whitten Oval redevelopment back on track, and they’ve turned down every offer," Cr MacDonald said.

"They’ve made the claim that our council has refused to deliver our $1 million contribution to the project. Again this is untrue. The money has been allocated in council’s budget over three years and the Bulldogs have always known this."

Rose said the Dogs had only until the end of the month to sort out the dispute before the builders could not continue because of lack of approvals.