A planning application has been submitted to have several football pitches and a driving range implemented at an already existing golf club.
The Chiltern Hills Golf Club, which sits on the Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire border near Little Chalfont, initially drew up the plans at the end of August this year, before they were officially put forward to the council in September.
The plans include having 12 new football pitches being built, with the spaces ranging to accommodate five-a-side teams to 11-a-side teams.
If approved, there would be three nine-a-side pitches, two 11-a-side, four seven-a-side and three five-a-side spaces for people to play football on.
The inclusion of the pitches is to hopefully attract more customers for the golf club, with the spaces expected to be used as a training facility, as well as for local tournaments.
In addition to the football spaces, plans to modify the existing nine-hole golf course have also been put forward, to ‘accommodate the new practice area and football pitches’.
If given the green light, existing holes one, three and four will become the new practice area, whilst holes five, six, seven and eight will be re-aligned to become the new one to nine holes.
A section of the planning application reads: “There is also the opportunity to realign holes on the northern boundary to increase safety margins with the adjacent properties.
“The new course is designed to be playable by all levels of golfer, whatever age.
“The practice facilities provide an opportunity for beginners to take up the game and become more proficient, to achieve handicap accreditation with England Golf.
“The course will be open access to play – not an exclusive private members club.
“This fits in well with the way the football pitches will be operated, allowing the local community to experience outdoor sports in a countryside environment.”
The reason for the potential revamp is to ‘encourage golfers to improve their game with targets to aim at and with trained and qualified teaching professionals.’
The golf club has also ‘identified that existing site characteristics are important factors’ to be included in their new golf and football plan.
The application reads: “We consider that in the new landscape design, we have made the best use of the land provided, potentially providing the best possible sporting facilities within this site.
“The landscape will be enhanced, particularly because our proposal includes the new planting of significant areas of native woodland, comprising native (locally sourced) (Southeast UK provenance) trees and shrubs, scrub and grassland providing all year-round interest both visually and ecologically.
“There are significant areas of grassland being established as part of the design, in intermediate/transitional areas between fairways and on the margins of the site, to become a habitat for skylarks, which have become attracted to the site in recent years.”
No decision has been made on this current planning application.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article