Dear Sir,
I understand that KPMG have been appointed as Administrators of Washington Developments Ltd. who are the present owners of Woodham Golf Club and course.
This very sad news will not come as a surprise to many residents of Woodham nor even the majority of golf club members but it does beg the question why our Town Councillors, with one notable exception, chose to ignore the warnings given to them by their constituents.
Despite so much local opposition, the Town Councillors, having previously declared their opposition at the meeting of Woodham residents held a year or two earlier, changed their minds again and supported the company’s application to build 50 houses and a hotel on the golf course when there was no funding package in place for the proposal.
The support of our Town Council undoubtedly had an influence upon the decision by the County Planning Committee to grant the application last year.
Would it be too much to expect or hope that in future our Councillors might just listen to what their constituents are telling them and maybe make some appropriate background checks upon the credentials of developers before backing such grandiose schemes which were never really viable or had a realistic chance of coming to fruition?
Thankfully, the existing staff jobs should be secure for now as the Administrators have indicated their wish to continue to run the golf club until a buyer can be found. Ideally, that should be the golf club members themselves and this could turn out to be their opportunity to secure the site.
Tragically however, the granting of planning permission will have raised expectations of the likely valuation and possibly put the price out of reach for the membership unless, possibly, lottery funding might be available. Perhaps a consortium of local businessmen with an interests in the game of golf might be the best hope? Or what about the Town Council taking it on or is that as unrealistic as the development plans?
When the Town Council changed their minds (not for the first time) to support the developer’s plans, they did so in the hope that jobs might be created but you need to have investment for that to happen and that was never in place.
It is a very sad irony that instead of creating new jobs, the decision of our Town Council to support the unrealistic development plans may have placed existing jobs at this excellent local recreational facility in some jeopardy. Residents of Woodham will hope that the site will remain a golf course and will begin to thrive again under a new owner, one that cares a bit about golf and the countryside and is not just a speculative developer with an eye only on profit.
Councillors and County Planners must search their consciences and ask themselves why they failed to heed the warnings they were given by residents and also consider and take responsibility for the consequences of that failure which may have resulted in placing existing jobs at longer term risk.
Woodham golf course is without question an excellent local asset that enhances our local environment hugely and everyone must hope that it will remain so and work towards saving it in its present form.
Bob Taylor
EDITOR: The leader of the Town Council, Councillor Bob Fleming, will reply in next week’s issue.
