Golf clubs face paying 900 times more to play
GOLF clubs using L'Ancresse Common will no longer benefit from 'ludicrously' cheap rent, under plans outlined today.
The Vale Commons Council has unveiled the proposed new charges, which will see the annual income from the two golf clubs rise from just £100 a year combined to about £90,000 – around 900 times as much.
The historic rent, which has stood for nearly 70 years, currently sees the 'use fee' per golfer stand at just 9p per year. However, this would increase to £1.50 per golfer each week under the proposed overhaul.
A working party, set up two years ago to look at the land's use during the next 25 years, has come up with the idea.
Working party chairman Jurat Mike Tanguy, pictured, said the increased rent was part of a series of proposals for the common, which included other revenue sources, such as possible overnight parking charges at some of its 16 car parks.
He said they had suggested that the council looked at all its fees and labelled the rent currently paid by the golf clubs as 'not even a gesture'.
'Since 1946 the rent paid by golf clubs under ordinance is £100 a year. That has not changed in 70 years and we said this is absolutely ludicrous,' Jurat Tanguy said.
