Many residents have expressed their concerns over plans that a new pay-as-you-play golf course has been approved in Beaconsfield.
The latest soon-to-be sporting facility in the town is set to be built across a site near Longbottom Lane and Amersham Road, with plans also to convert an existing barn to a pay booth plus toilet facilities.
This comes an incredible 27 years after plans were first given in to Buckinghamshire Council in 1996.
READ MORE: Plans for a Beaconsfield golf course are approved 27 YEARS after initial proposal
Reasons for its long delay in being given the go-ahead were primarily down to its legitimacy, despite developers being granted a ‘certificate of lawfulness’, in 2004.
Questions continue to be asked over the validity for the remaining 18 years until a planning committee officially approved the notion on May 30 this year.
Notes on the official planning portal on the Buckinghamshire website also show alternative applications for the same facility which date back as far as 1992.
However, despite the go-ahead, many residents have expressed their worries about what this could mean to the town.
READ MORE: Bucks car wash and chicken shop fined over £10,000 each for hiring illegal workers
Specifically, 21 causes of concern were put forward to the council.
They are as follows:
- Concerns regarding impact on the Green Belt
- Back door application to allow further inappropriate development in the Green Belt
- Golf course would be inappropriate use of Green Belt land
- Revised access would be detrimental to the Green Belt
- Impact on the character of the area - Impact on adjacent Listed Buildings
- Impact of revised impact on protected trees and hedgerows
- Ecology concerns
- Residential amenity impacts in terms of views
- Safety concerns for highway and public footpath users (i.e. golf ball strikes)
- Traffic impacts on Longbottom Lane and area in general
- Traffic and safety impacts in relation to the reduced visibility
- Flooding and drainage concerns
- No justification for new golf course
- Area does not require further golf courses
- Application for new golf course should not be permitted to be resurrected
- Substantial and material changes since the application was approved
- New application is required due to material changes which have occurred
- 2004 certificate of lawfulness is invalid
- 2004 certificate of lawfulness should be cancelled
- Discrepancies with previously approved plans
- Insufficient details to assess the current revisions sought
It is not known when the work will begin
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel