NORTH WEALD: Go-ahead for further phase of golf course work

9:07am Thursday 21st August 2008

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HUNDREDS of lorries are to spend three months transporting 100,000 tonnes of soil and other material into a golf club after planning permission was given for further “remodelling” work of the course.

Two previous phases of redevelopment work have already been carried out at North Weald Golf Club with owner Andrew Lloyd-Skinner admitting that he told the district council last September that the second phase would be the last.

But now he has been given planning permission for a third - and final - phase of work.

A district council report presented to last night's area plans committee meeting said the next section of work could be split into five smaller phases involving a total of six hectares of the 65-hectare course.

It will mean the importation of up to 45,000 cubic metres of material – mainly sub-soil with five per cent brick and other inert material.

However concerns were voiced at the district council’s area plans committee about how the material and lorries would be adequately monitored.

Planning officer Jill Shingler said the principle of allowing the importation of material had already been established.

She told the meeting: We’ve done (approved similar work) in the past and it has been very well controlled. There has not been any problem with the development that has taken place in the past.”

Jacq Dodman, of the Theydon Bois Action Group - which has campaigned against the golf course work carried out at the Blunts Farm site in Theydon Bois – told the meeting the group did not oppose golfers or golf courses but “opposed the ruse to import material for profit”.

Mr Lloyd-Skinner said that despite what he told the council last time he could confirm that this application would be the final one.

He said he intended to complete the work in a shorter time than before, so the redesigned course could be launched next April.

North Weald district councillor Dave Stallan, who was a member of a district council sub-committee formed to keep an eye on the Blakes golf course development at North Weald, said: “I remember hearing the phrase that ‘it was going to be the last phase’. I have concerns.”

Councillor Roland Frankel said: “We need to be focussed on this area of sub-soil. I would be fairly relaxed about the remodelling. I think there’s a big issue of what is coming in on the lorries.

“What guarantees are there that the material is sub-soil and how can this be properly audited and monitored?

Mr Lloyd-Skinner said he worked closely with the Environment Agency and stressed that all lorries entering the site were ticketed so that it was known where they were from and what they contained.