\tThe owners of the golf club are supportive of these plans – recognising the local need for housing – with comments stating that the game would still be played here for at least a decade with one course being retained for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
\tMatthew Kendrick, from Grassroots Planning, acting on behalf of the golf club, said: “While in the long run the golf courses [would] close, a development of this scale [would] take many years to complete, therefore it is highly likely that golfing [would] continue here for many years.”<\/p>\n
\tNow that the plan has been submitted to the government, public meetings will likely proceed in the spring, but Chris Willmore,\u00a0South Gloucestershire Council’s cabinet member for planning, regeneration, and infrastructure, did confess that the proposals were not perfect.<\/p>\n
\t“It will mean new development on 2.53% of South Gloucestershire’s existing Green Belt land.<\/p>\n
\t“In keeping with new government directives, however it protects the vast majority and will help to make sure the area remains an attractive place to live and work for years to come,” he said.<\/p>\n
\tWoodlands won’t close imminently, but will become somewhat truncated, and it’s far from the first destination in 2025<\/a> to go down this path, some more willingly than others.<\/p>\n \tThese golf courses have been impacted by housebuilding<\/p>\n \t \tPositioned on the outskirts of Cardiff,\u00a0the acclaimed Whitchurch Golf Club<\/a> took the bold decision to sell off one of its holes<\/a>, giving up the land to fund redevelopment of its full course.\u00a0<\/p>\n \tBut far more despairing was the news that\u00a0Gatley Golf Club, near Manchester, would close after controversial plans<\/a> to build new homes on the site were given the green light.\u00a0That came despite 1,600 people signing a petition to protect the land from development.<\/p>\n \tElsewhere, Belfast’s Balmoral Golf Club will move out of the city to a new course that will be designed by Paul McGinley, with the\u00a0Dublin-based Merrion Property Group taking ownership of the current site.<\/p>\n \tNorth Oxford Golf Club, which had a history dating back to 1907, was shut down at the end of October after the 70-acre location was selected to be part of a major housing development in the renowned university city.<\/p>\n \tAdditionally, the current course belonging to Maidenhead Golf Club in Berkshire will close at the end of this year, as the land has been sold by the council to Cala Homes, who will build 1,500 houses and flats, with the club itself moving to a new era after buying nearby Mill Ride Golf Club.<\/p>\n \tShrivenham Park Golf Club, near Swindon, has also been targeted by developers Bloor Homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \tWhen there is a growing demand for housing, the acreage occupied by some golf courses makes them an attractive proposition to both developers and local authorities.<\/p>\n \tGolf clubs face a number of looming threats – but none are more existential than the fierce grasp of property development.<\/p>\n![\"Gatley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7th_hole_good_eivjo4.jpg\")
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