Leeds club ‘facing closure’ over repeated vandalism

A golf club in Leeds has said it may be forced to close due to repeated vandalism.

Gotts Park Golf Club, which is mostly run by volunteers, told the BBC in early December, just after its greens had been damaged by people riding electric bikes on them, that the site has seen repeated anti-social behaviour over the past two years.

Karon Bickers, a volunteer board member, said it was not financially viable to keep making repairs.

“If this was to continue I’m 100 percent confident we would not be able to go on, because we just would not have the money to be able to sort it out.

“If the club goes this fantastic green area will just become overgrown, a no man’s land,” she said.

Image from X

Bickers said members had put their “heart and soul” into trying to keep the club going and to see the recent damage was “soul destroying, heartbreaking.”

“We all work hard and put our own time and effort in,” she said.

“We’re struggling hand-to-mouth as it is, without having to deal with this.”

West Yorkshire Police confirmed they had investigated previous incidents of vandalism at the club where quad bikes were ridden on the course leaving greens damaged.

Volunteers took over the running of the 90-year-old club about six years ago, when one of the plans the council had was “to turn the land into a wildflower meadow”, Bickers said.

At that time the club employed about seven staff to maintain the greens but they were now looked after by two people, with the club run on a “shoestring” budget, she added.