Proposals from Craigie Hill Golf Club to build 175 homes on half of its course in conjunction with Dundee engineering group Kilmac failed to receive support earlier this month from the local council’s planning committee . Following a meeting of the entire council on Wednesday, the plans were rejected by a vote of 26 to nine.
The club is said to be haemorrhaging up to £30,000 annually and has been “fighting” against a decline for the past two decades.
“It was encouraging to hear that councillors were keen to meet and discuss a collaborative approach to securing the future of the club,” Mr Mitchell said. “We will take a few days to reflect calmly on the council decision, and comments made during the course of the meeting, before deciding on our next step.”
Read the full story here .
(Image: Tom Shaw/R&A via Getty Images)
Tackling shortages in golf’s ‘invisible’ profession
Historically known as the “head greenkeeper”, many of those in charge of grounds staff throughout the country have begun adopting the title “course manager” to reflect the higher level of qualifications and responsibilities now required to manage the largest budget and biggest team within a golfing business.
The title is pretty much a matter of preference, but whatever you call them, the pool of skilled workers in this field is dwindling as the number of experienced professionals that are retiring have not been sufficiently replaced by new people coming into the profession.
Jim Croxton is the chief executive of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) based in York, which has 6,000 members including roughly 1,000 in Scotland. Speaking in The Herald’s Around the Greens series earlier this week, he argued that “visibility is absolutely essential” for the profession.
Read the full interview here.