St Albans' Batchwood golf course may change to stop balls hitting homes
- Published
The latest attempts to amend Batchwood golf course have resulted in balls hitting houses in Becketts Avenue instead of Alverton Close
Legal advisers said changes might be needed at a golf course after wayward shots keep hitting nearby homes.
Batchwood Golf Course in St Albans, Hertfordshire, has adjusted its ninth hole at least twice in the last six years to try to limit stray balls.
The latest attempts to amend the course have resulted in balls hitting different houses.
A report to the city's district council said it needed to take further steps to mitigate the risk to nearby properties.
The municipal course has been on Batchwood Drive since 1935, but complaints about golf balls leaving the course were first raised after new homes in Alverton Close were built in 2014.
According to the report, external prepared for St Albans City & District Council's Public Realm Committee, officers first visited the affected homes in July 2015 when a resident said a weekly average of six golf balls striking the property or landing in the garden.
Batchwood Sports Centre operators 1Life have implemented a number of mitigation measures
The company that manages the course for the council, 1Life, had tried to stop the problem by moving the teeing area, planting more trees and installing a new metal fence, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Homes in Alverton Close were then out of the firing line, but it "resulted in a new set of properties being struck by golf balls in Becketts Avenue".
The report said a "significant reworking of the course" was now likely.
Until November 2022, a temporary tee will be used on the current ninth hole, placed nearer to the green, while the council considered what action to take.
The options included developing the practice hole for play, before permanently changing the layout of the ninth hole.
A meeting of the committee last week was postponed. The council said it would be rearranged as soon as possible.
Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, external, Instagram, external and Twitter, external. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk