Petition launched to save golf club
By Alistair Dunsmuir
A petition has been launched to save a golf club in Lancashire that is set to close down at the end of March.
‘Save Beacon Park Golf Club’ has already received hundreds of signatures.
At the end of last year West Lancashire Borough Council decided that the Donald Steel-designed Beacon Park Golf Centre will close this spring so the authority can develop Beacon Country Park’s facilities and green spaces.
Councillor Carl Coughlan said: “The current golfing facility has for many years required a significant subsidy to run. The decision taken represents the beginning of the journey in West Lancashire to reshape and revitalise our health, wellbeing and leisure offer, and I am grateful for the cross-party support to help us deliver the first significant step on this journey.”
Local golfer Jack Flaherty says the venue has a proud history but has been poorly managed for more than a decade.
“In the early 2000s the course was highly rated and the club had over 500 members,” he said.
However, things took a turn for the worse in the 2010s when some improvement plans did not materialise, investment dropped and the course began to deteriorate, which led to a significant drop in membership numbers, he said.
“It was only recently through Covid that they hired a greenkeeper to sort the course out. He did an amazing job with no budget, at times borrowing materials from nearby golf clubs. Now, just as it’s getting back on its feet, and member numbers are increasing, they will close down the course,” he stated. “The councillors have not listened to the community.”
By Alistair Dunsmuir
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Poorly promoted and advertised too….
Some improvement plans did not materialise is the understatement of the year. Under Serco’s management, and in agreement with the Council, a contract was agreed to put landfill on the course. This was dumped on the driving range, rendering it impossible to use and provide revenue to the club. After protests, the landfill was moved onto the course, on the first hole, so making the course illegible to join the South West Lancs competition. The driving range then had trees planted on it, which were later moved. The nine hole golf course which Jacqui.Sinnott-Lacey@westlancs.gov.uk promised, in writing, would be completed after several delays, by Autumn 2021 has never materialised. The membership has of course declined. Who could blame the members leaving to go elsewhere. However, there is a staunch membership remaining, who have fought tooth and nail to keep the club going. They need help to uncover why this managed decline has been allowed, and why 3 interested parties who want to take over the course without any cost to the Council, have not even had their applications considered. There is something very wrong gone on with regard to the management of this club, and the relationship of Serco and the Council. Is it because they don’t want the books examined by these interested parties?
Poorly managed is an understatement