Kendal golf driving range plan turned down (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Kendal golf driving range plan turned down

4:28pm Wednesday 4th July 2012 in News By Daniel Orr, Reporter

PLANS for a state of the art golf driving range in Kendal have been turned down.

Kendal Golf Club applied for planning permission to build the new facility, measuring 25.4 metres long and six metres in height, on village green land close to its base in High Tenterfell.

But South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee rejected the bid on the grounds of the visual impact it would have, loss of green space and noise.

Recommending the bid for refusal, planning officer Kate Lawson told councillors: “It will be incredibly prominent from both close up and from a distance.

“There is also an issue with footpaths. Stray balls going off to the side would bypass the netting and could cause harm to members of the public on the footpaths.”

An application for the same development, but with floodlighting, was submitted last year but later withdrawn after being recommended for refusal due to the visual impact of the building, including the scale and materials used plus the impact of floodlighting.

The floodlighting was removed, the application resubmitted, but the com- mittee was still not convinced it would be good for the town, although Coun David Williams argued for it. “It is only going to be visible in the daytime,” he said.

But Coun Sylvia Emmott said: “To say that a structure that will be 25.4 metres long and six metres high will not be visible is hard to understand. We need to look after our landscape.”

Coun Williams was backed by Coun Brian Cooper, who said: “There are footpaths on every golf course but golfers and walkers have respect for each other. It is a business and ever since Carus Green Golf Club opened, they are struggling a bit at Kendal Golf Club and they really need a bit more revenue.”

Among those objecting to the scheme were members of Kendal Civic Society, who said the plan was ‘at odds' with SLDC's core strategy policy, which requires that developments 'conserve and enhance local landscape character’. There were also nine letters of objection.