Campaigners win backing to reopen golf course

Keith Marsh and Robin Clarke from Brackenwood Golf Club celebrate outside Wallasey Town Hall

Campaigners fighting to reopen a community golf course are celebrating after councillors voted to back the project.

Brackenwood Golf Course in Bebington, Wirral, was closed in 2022 after sweeping budget cuts were made by Wirral Council.

The course looked set to remain closed after the landowners pulled out of a deal with Brackenwood Community Golf Limited (BCGL) and suggested an alternative use for the site.

But the bid by BCGL has now been backed by councillors, with golf club secretary Keith Marsh saying they were "overjoyed" and hoped it would reopen by 2025.

The course was closed in 2022 as part of cuts made by Wirral Council

Mr Marsh, who attended the meeting along with about 40 fellow club members, said several members had died and would never see the course reopen.

Speaking about the council's decision to back the project, Mr Marsh said: “They’ve stuck by their communities and as I said in the meeting, they have shown faith in politics can exist. We just need to get it done now.”

The bid by BCGL had been given final approval by councillors in July 2023 but in March 2024 the council said the transfer would not be going ahead.

They said this was because RM Estates, who had been supporting Brackenwood Golf Club with a rental guarantee, had pulled out and put forward a different proposal.

A council report published ahead of the meeting at Wallasey Town Hall on Wednesday had suggested councillors keep the land but “maximise its use for grass playing pitches for a variety of sports” as well as improve natural habitats and biodiversity.

But councillors voted almost unanimously to keep supporting the golf club in its bid to take the course over, the Local Democracy Reporting Service writes.

The club said it was now being supported by LinkGolf, which runs a number of previously council-run courses, putting forward the same plans as those previously approved by councillors.

After nearly an hour of talks with council officers and the golf club, Labour put forward a proposal which would see the council only move forward with the golf club and LinkGolf proposal with a number of conditions added due to the “exceptional circumstances.”