The club had hoped that plans to build a care home on part of their site would be approved
How the care home would have looked, if plans had been approved(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
A proposal to build a 72-bed care home on a Leicester golf course has been refused, leaving the club that runs it at risk of closure.
Plans to develop land on the site of The Leicestershire Golf Club (TLGC) were turned down at a Leicester City Council planning committee meeting last night (Wednesday, March 25).
Giving the green light would have helped support the golf club through financial difficulties, but councillors chose to reject the application because the site is on protected green wedge land between Evington and Oadby.
Attending the meeting to make the case, the golf club’s president, Ashwin Mistry, said that, due to inflation and depleted reserves, the club had been borrowing cash from members, increasing fees, and reducing staff to keep the doors open.
They backed the bid to sell the land off Gartree Road and Stoughton Drive to Morrison Community Care, arguing that giving up one per cent of their land will help secure the future of the other 99.
He said he was “totally disappointed” with the result of the meeting.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service afterwards: “What choice do we have? We have got nothing left. We have tried everything.”
Also attending in support was ward councillor Jenny Joannou (Conservative). A member of the council’s adult social care panel, she argued the need for care provision outweighed any potential harm to the green wedge land.
She told members: “If we don’t get this, The Leicestershire Golf Club will go under. And it is the jewel in the crown in Evington. Everybody knows it, everybody loves it.
“Today I am here to say categorically that we need that care home on that piece of land.”
Plans for the care home have been rejected(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Developers estimate the site would have created up to 100 full-time jobs and would have added £3m to the local economy each year.
They also say it would help prevent bed blocking in NHS hospitals and save adult social care services £170,000 a year.
Nadir Khan-Juhoor, from the developer behind the plans, said: “Leicester lost a great opportunity to have an exemplary care home built today.
“We could have had a care home operational by 2028, but this sets it back to 2029/2030.
“Meanwhile, demand is going to increase, and that has an impact on the people of Leicester – especially those who are most vulnerable and in need.”
Councillors who were left to make the final decision said they were “confused”, weighing up the need for care against the need to protect the green wedge.
Green councillor Patrick Kitterick (Castle ward) told members that granting planning permission could set a negative precedent for further development.
He said: “To be frank, chair, it’s a question of do we want green wedge policy that will stand up or fall over every time a good and laudable aim comes forward?
“Absolutely, there is a need for care homes in the city. If it were the only available site in the whole city, I would have a different opinion about it. But there are other sites.
“We’ve heard the golf club is in financial difficulty – what’s not to say that if there is more financial difficulty, it gets eaten away piece by piece?
“If we show that this won’t stand up, this committee will be faced with people not just nibbling away at this green wedge but other parts.”
Ultimately, councillors voted in line with officer recommendations and the application was refused.
Cllr Joannou said the next step is to explore how to raise funds for the golf course.