Plans for £1.3m South Ayrshire golf centre get go-ahead from councillors
The Belleisle plans were voted through despite opposition from some members of the golf club
Last updated 13th Sep 2024
Bold plans for a £1.3m golf development centre at Belleisle have been given the go ahead by councillors, despite opposition from some members.
The development, including a practice range, green and other development facilities, would be built on the tier tee are at the first hole at Belleisle.
The council says that the development will attract young people and women to take up the game as well as investment in the course helping to attract big tournaments.
The council will now speak to club members and players before going out to a wider consultation on the plans.
Councillors did quiz officers on the plans and some of the claims in the report.
Labour Councillor Phillip Saxton asked, for example, of the benefits the report said the investment would bring.
He also raised concerns that the tournaments that could be attracted could impact negatively on club members and visitors.
Members claim they were not consulted
He asked whether the golfers had been consulted on the plans saying that in previous plans, players and members had said the council ‘never came to us or spoke to us’.
Alister Mutch, Service Lead for Sports, Leisure and Golf, said that the council was speaking to Scottish Golf and the R&A about future opportunities for higher profile tournaments.
Officers admitted that there could be an impact on players if tournaments came to South Ayrshire Council courses and that there would be consultation.
Council Depute Leader, Cllr Bob Pollock said that the impact of last months Open tournament in Troon will help to attract new players and visitors.
He said: “We are particularly well situated to benefit from a longer term bounce effect from The Open coming to the area because of the facilities that we have, not only in terms of the good private courses we have around about but the good public courses that we have.
“Now, if you look at Royal Troon, I don’t for a minute think that they lose out by hosting the Open.
“I think, if anything, it puts them on a global stage and it keeps that attraction and investment.
“People come to play the courses and that then leads to investment in keeping the course to a world class standard.
“That’s what we’re looking to try and achieve here.”
SNP Councillor Laura Brennan Whitfield said: “I’d be interested in what initiatives are being taken forward to make the courses more accessible, particularly for people who are not in high income areas.”
Mr Mutch said that Sportscotland and Scottish Gold had been in discussions and that the council may be able to access funding following the national bodies’ facility funding review. ”
It was added that the council was already working to develop ways to improve access and would be bringing specific proposals to the table.
Questions about the benefits of the move
Labour councillor Brian McGinley questioned the benefits of the move.
He said: “Some of the concerns I have, have been with me since I was involved in this portfolio in previous years.
“I don’t have a clear picture in my mind about how the council wants to use these facilities for the benefit of the people of South Ayrshire.
” I hear a lot of stuff, a lot of talk about visitors. and attractions and competitions and all of those things, but actually here we have a significant number relative to other councils, in an area that has a reducing population.
“I don’t think the argument has been made that we need to invest significant money in these facilities.”
Jane Bradley, Director of Communities and Transformation, pointed out that the golf strategy was approved in 2022 and contained the aims.
“In order for us to deliver a sustainable facility for the people of South Ayrshire, we have to generate income to allow us to do that.
“If we don’t generate sufficient income, we can’t sustain the golf courses. If we don’t invest in the golf courses then we will lose numbers.
“What we are not seeing is the same number of young people coming forward or the same number of females taking up golf.
“One way to try and address that is to be appropriate practice facilities.”
She added: “Before we consult, we need to have something relatively substantial to be able to consult on.
“We didn’t know what it’s going to look like. We didn’t know where it’s going to affect certain holes. We didn’t know how any holes will be closed for a period of time.
“We just didn’t have the answers to all that until we got up to that stage where we now have a potential kind of outline of what the building might look like.”
Sports and Leisure spokesperson, Councillor Brian Connolly said: “The new Chief Executive of Scottish Growth was absolutely raving about the public facilities in South Ayrshire and our investment in our public courses.
Plans would make golf more accessible to women and children
“This is an example of one of them. It’s the development of children’s golf, and it is also to make golf available to more female golfers.”
He slammed rumours of the council ‘destroying a Baird masterpiece’, adding: “There’s going to be one hole changed. We’re going to bring bunkers up to modern standards. We’re going to bring greens up to modern standards.
“The work that is done on that one hole will mean that we don’t close the course at all.
” We will develop a new hole and when that is done then we’ll go to look at the development centre.”
The report was approved by 24 votes to seven.