Venue is allowed to use dumped chalk for improvements

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir August 10, 2021 06:28

A footgolf venue that replaced a golf course in 2017 has been told it can create boundary walls around its car park with chalk that had been dumped there by a rogue builder.

Brighton Footgolf, which replaced Benfield Valley Golf Course four years ago, allowed the builder to use the site on a temporary basis to bag up tonnes of chalk – but he disappeared after dumping it in the car park.

The car park is an informal setting with no marked spaces, and it is next to Benfield Valley Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI), and some of the chalk had encroached on to this area.

Brighton and Hove City Council therefore served an enforcement notice to remove the chalk but when this was started some of the vegetation and wildlife was damaged.

The two parties have now reached an agreement – the chalk can be used to build bunds along the car park boundaries.

Brighton Footgolf. Image from Facebook

County ecologist Kate Cole said: “The geology in the area is chalk so if you can have shallow bunds around the edge which are seeded with low-nutrient soil and chalk grassland, that would be beneficial for the area.

“The bunds will also be good habitats for reptiles because they’ll have nice sunny banks that reptiles can bask on. Obviously, you don’t want them to be huge.”

One councillor said: “If we can get an environmental gain out of this and we can get some improvements to the nature of the car park as well and some visual improvements for the relationship between the car park and footpath, I don’t have a particular development objection to this.

“My concern is about a potential precedent it sets for people to be dumping waste chalk around the country and then saying it was because they were anticipating getting planning permission for bunds.”

 

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir August 10, 2021 06:28
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1 Comment

  1. Peter August 10, 18:17

    New one for me !! However, if there is an environmental advantage, Why not ? It’s what we do as stewards !!

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