103-year-old bowls club at risk of closure
Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) is looking to c make way for a new, state-of-the-art NHS hub
A 103-year-old Surrey bowling green could be destroyed and members forced to move to another club. Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) is looking to continue negotiations into potentially selling the historic Walton-on-Thames bowling green to make way for a new, state-of-the-art NHS hub.
EBC Cabinet members agreed to give the NHS the right to buy part of Elm Grove recreational ground on April 30. The local NHS team is hoping to move from its current home at Walton Community Hospital in Rodney Road and build a state-of-the-art health hub on the land.
Officers told EBC’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on May 27 that they were continuing conversations with the club to find them a new home. There was talk of potentially letting the Walton bowling club members join one of the other eight groups in the borough to share sporting grounds, rather than merging two together.
“You can’t merge clubs,” Cllr Janet Turner said. “They are insular in the way they work.” She explained that members go to the club because they like the location.
The Hinchley Wood Residents’ Association member said her main concern was that the council would sign away Elm Grove without any concrete agreement from the NHS, and the health hub promise would not be fulfilled.
Initially the council had promised to rebuild the bowling green elsewhere in the borough. But it later transpired creating a new centre would be extortionate.
Cllr John Cope pointed out that according to officers’ notes, there were no viable relocation options for the club as none of the land owned by the council was suitable for a bowling green.
Councillors had described the offer as a “once in a generation opportunity” to provide a central health hub for the people of Walton-on Thames. No decisions have been made and nothing is set in stone, but officers and members agreed to continue to look at negotiating a deal for an innovative health centre in place of the bowling green.
You can support the Walton-on-Thames Club by signing the petition on their website.