Participants win support for golf course reopening

Campaigners fighting to reopen a community golf course are celebrating after councilors voted to back the project.

Brackenwood Golf Course in Bebington, Wirral, is set to close in 2022 after Wirral Council made major budget cuts.

The course looked set to remain closed after the landowners pulled out of a deal with Brackenwood Community Golf Limited (BCGL) and suggested an alternative use for the site.

But BCGL’s bid has now been backed by councillors, with the club’s secretary Keith Marsh saying they were “used” and hoped it would reopen by 2025.

Mr Marsh, who attended the meeting with about 40 fellow club members, said several members had died and would never see the course reopen.

Speaking about the council’s decision to back the project, Mr Marsh said: “They’ve stood up for their communities and, as I said at the meeting, they’ve shown that trust in politics can exist. We just have to do it now.”

BCGL’s bid received final approval from councilors in July 2023, but in March 2024 the council said the transfer would not go ahead.

They said this was because RM Estates, which had backed Brackenwood Golf Club with a lease guarantee, had pulled out and submitted another proposal.

A council report published ahead of the meeting at Wallasey Town Hall on Wednesday suggested councilors retain the land but “maximize its use for grass pitches for a variety of sports” as well as improve natural habitats and biodiversity.

But aldermen voted almost unanimously to continue supporting the golf club in its bid to take over the course, the Local Democracy Reporting Service writes.

The club said it is now supported by LinkGolf, which runs a number of courses previously run by the council, proposing the same plans as previously approved by councillors.

After almost an hour of discussions with council officers and the golf club, Labor tabled a proposal that would see the council go ahead with just the golf club and LinkGolf’s proposal, with a number of conditions added due to “exceptional circumstances”.

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