Anger as council closes municiple golf course

According to a report on the BBC local news site, a 105-year-old golf course in Leicester has closed as the city council looks to save £90m by 2018. The closure of Western Park municipal golf club will apparently save the authority £123,000 a year.

Councillors say they could only save either Western Park or Humberstone Heights as part of the review into the cost of sporting provision in the city.

But golfers said they are angry their business plan was ignored by city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby.

Course users, who walked the course for the last time on Saturday, had submitted a plan to take over the running of the club but this was rejected by the council.

Hugh Linden, the last ever captain said: "It's sad that we did put a business plan to the mayor but his response was that basically it wouldn't work. It's quite emotionally upsetting".

Peggy Rimmington from the Leicestershire and Rutland County Golf Partnership said she was "disappointed" by the decision to close the course.

"It takes 900 calories to walk round a golf course, it keeps you fit, it keeps you healthy and I'm disappointed" she said.

In a statement, a spokesman for Leicester City Council said: "We considered factors such as the club membership, facilities and future financial viability in reaching the decision to close Western Park and invest in Humberstone Heights to safeguard its future.

"It was clear that for either of the city council-run golf courses to have a future, it would have to be at the expense of the other."

We hate it when councils close municipal courses, which are one of the best ways of bringing people of all ages into the game. It also seems so short sighted, as when a course is gone it’s normally gone forever, and by next year it will be probably be covered in houses. Grrrr.

Also related to this story: pitch and putt, not ditch and shut.