Golf course remodel plans 'inappropriate' - report

Plans to remodel a Surrey golf course are "unacceptable in the context of its location", according to council planning officers.

Merrist Wood Golf Club, near Guildford, applied for planning permission to redesign its course in 2023.

The "ambitious and large-scale" proposal will "provide a world-class facility" at the site and is supported by local policy, according to the planning application.

A Surrey County Council report, however, recommends councillors reject the proposal due to environmental concerns when they meet on 24 April. The golf club's owner has been contacted for comment.

The proposed scheme would see a new lake built to facilitate the reuse of rainwater for irrigation.

The course's design would be modernised to address a recent "downward spiral" of user numbers that, according to the plans, means the club "has suffered as a viable business".

The current course, built in 1996, often floods, according to planning documents, so the most waterlogged holes would be re-wilded under the scheme.

Material for the works will primarily consist of "inert waste soils", such as from demolitions or excavations elsewhere.

Surrey County Council said 107 objections to the plan and only two letters of support were received from members of the public.

The county council's ecologist, landscape architect and waste planning team are among the consultees to raise perceived issues with the scheme.

The Environment Agency and Guildford Borough Council also voiced concerns, according to the county council's report.

County council officers claim the proposal would divert too much waste material from nearby recycling sites, disrupting the county's waste management plan.

The planning application also provides "insufficient information" about the impact of construction traffic on local roads and "has not provided sufficient detail with regard to the flood risk and drainage strategy of the site", according to the report.

Officers also said there was also not enough detail provided about the proposal's impact on the site's biodiversity and the designs "may appear incongruous within the existing landscape".

Officers "acknowledged that the development would result in some benefits" but said the applicant had not done enough to show these would justify "inappropriate development" on the green belt.

It was claimed in the planning application that "very special circumstances" justified the development and the proposal's environmental impact would be "acceptable".

The site is currently listed for sale with a guide price of nearly £2.3m.

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