A Wirral golf course which opened 87 years ago could shut down within months due to the council’s £20m cuts package.
However, it is understood there are bidders interested in saving Bebington’s Brackenwood Golf Course in the nick of time.
Golfers have campaigned strongly for the course to remain open, with an online petition calling for the course to be saved gaining 2,961 signatures at the time of writing.
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But the current position is that Wirral Council will cease all maintenance at the Bebington course and Hoylake Municipal on April 1, in a move the authority believes will save £328,000 per year, under plans to be voted on by a full council meeting on Monday, February 28.
This does not necessarily spell the end for either course, as the council is allowing facilities which it plans to close as part of a plan to address its £20m budget black hole, which include nine libraries, Woodchurch Leisure Centre and the two public golf courses, until September to come up with plans to keep them going under a community asset transfer scheme.
This would see local groups run the facilities themselves at no cost to the council.
But this is a major problem for Brackenwood Golf Course, currently one of four public courses in Wirral, with just Wallasey's The Warren and Arrowe Park Golf Course to remain open under the council's plans.
Keith Marsh, Brackenwood’s club secretary, said: “With a library, you can close it down and do a bit of maintenance and cleaning and open it again.
“But if the council closes the golf course in April and does not do any maintenance it will go to wreck and ruin.”
The numbers show just how important the summer season is to the golf course.
Mr Marsh added: “The course makes 78% of its income from April to September, so any potential new operator would be less likely to take it over in September, putting the course in serious jeopardy.
“We need continuity of service, otherwise the course would shut down after 87 years.”
The good news for Brackenwood is that there are bidders interested in taking over the course on a licence agreement, including one which is known to have taken on golf courses which used to be run by a local council and run them successfully.
But time is the main issue. It is clear that the major uncertainty facing the course needs to be sorted out within months otherwise its future is at serious risk.
A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “This issue is part of the proposals for the 2022/23 budget and no decisions have been made yet.”
You can have your say on the proposals for municipal golf in Wirral here.
