Popular pay-as-you-play golf course set for major expansion
A popular 'pay-and-play' golf course near Stoke-on-Trent could be set to expand. Plans to improve the facilities by creating three additional holes at Marton Meadows Golf Club will be decided on next week.
Councillors will meet on Wednesday, July 26, to consider the proposal put forward by the Congleton Road club, in Marton.
The club currently houses a nine-hole course. A planning report to members of the Cheshire East Council strategic planning board recommends that the application be approved. It states: "The application proposes level changes of the existing field parcel by the importation of inert fill material.
"Currently the existing field parcel is a large, even gradient area, sloping east to west. There is a large area of poorer drainage, resulting in a Marshy Grassland habitat area. It will allow for the creation of a better-quality golf facility through providing an additional three holes."
The council has received a total of 140 representations over the application, with just 11 of those expressing objections. Those in favour argue that the plans would improve the standard of play and landscape, benefit the local economy, increase tourism and create employment opportunities.
Concerns raised in the objections included the potential of Chapel Brook being polluted, noise, dust vibration and disturbance during development, impact on users of St James and St Paul’s Church, and property values being affected. Martin Parish Council registered an objection over the amount of material to be imported, vehicle movements, highway safety, and impact on the tranquillity of the church.
Recommending approval, subject to conditions, the council report states: "Outdoor recreation development in the open countryside which is deemed essential for the expansion of an existing rural business is deemed acceptable in principle. The works would result in the raising of land levels to facilitate the changes to the golf course.
"Overall, there would be changes to the appearance of the open countryside, but the improvement to the golf course, allowing better access for users and to meet the requirements of the golf World Handicap System is considered necessary. This would allow the club to be registered with Golf England and the Cheshire Golf Union, to the benefit of a local business in the village.
"The proposal would provide a way of utilising 85,000 cubic metres of inert material as part of land improvement works, thereby providing it with a useful purpose as opposed to being deposited in landfill and would assist in addressing an identified significant shortfall in inert waste management capacity within the authority as identified in the latest Cheshire East Waste Needs Assessment Update.
"Highways have raised no objections as the access has now been widened to allow for safe HGV movements. The number of movements should be conditioned, as should the timescales for them taking place. There will be impacts on ecology, trees and hedgerows and these can be mitigated by the measures set out in the application.
"Conditions would ensure that the materials imported would be suitable. The Environment Agency and the Council’s flood risk team have no objections subject to conditions. The scheme therefore represents a sustainable form of development and the planning balance weighs in favour supporting the development."
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References
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