Guernsey Press

Golf clubs call for States to sort out row over common

A BITTER stand-off with Vale Commons Council over the future of golf on L'Ancresse must be resolved by the States, the golf clubs have said.

Published

Members of the Royal Guernsey and L'Ancresse Golf Clubs' joint committee gave their response to the council's warning they had until the end of this year to agree to its demands for a new lease or alternatives would be sought.

In its vision document, the Vale Commons Council said in future it would need £160,000 to manage the common, half of which should be paid by the clubs under a new 25-year lease. It currently receives just a £30,000 grant from the States and £100 from the clubs each year.

But club leaders argued that the council had misled the public by failing to point out that their subsidiary company, Golf Course Management LBG, spent £500,000 a year maintaining the golf course and the areas around it – something that would no longer happen if the clubs had no future on L'Ancresse.

Chairman of the joint golf committee Patrick McKeary said even though the council had demanded terms for a new lease, to be signed by the clubs alone and not the States, nobody really knew who owned the land.

He said currently the clubs dealt directly with Culture and Leisure, not the council, paying it the £100 'lease fee' under an agreement which also saw Golf Course Management Ltd tasked with maintaining the course and submitting annual reports.

It was the department which then passed on this £100 to the council along with its annual grant.

'We've made an offer to Culture and Leisure which we think they find acceptable. They have taken our offer and used it to make their own offer to the Commons Council. It's between the States and the Commons Council to sort out the matter.'

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