Aberdeen Football Club (AFC) chair Stewart Milne has said that the club 'needs' to move to a new stadium in order to remain viable.

Milne said the Scottish Premier League club's current Pittodrie venue had a "limited life" and that to do nothing would not be an option. A 21,000-seat stadium at Loirston Loch - designed by the Miller Partnership - is currently being planned by AFC and is scheduled to open in time for the 2013-14 season.

Milne told the club's AGM: "We hope to get planning consent from the council in February. "It will then be called in by the Scottish Office and we would hope for a decision before the break-up of parliament next year, around April."

If the £35m scheme is approved, work could get underway in 2012.