Resistance to Leeds golf club plans for expansion

Moortown Golf Club, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 1929, has lodged plans to build a new greenkeeping facility for course maintenance at its site in Alwoodley.

However, more than 20 residents have now submitted objections against the plans, which they say threaten to turn the area from a “traditional quiet Leeds suburban backwater into an industrial estate”.

A planning statement, drawn up by Ryden on behalf of the applicant, said the proposals include a new storage or workshop facility and a yard, with office space and a canteen.

“They have been developed in consultation with the greenkeeping staff to fulfil their current and future needs,” it said.

“The new building will be used to store a range of agricultural vehicles, attachments and maintenance equipment and also to provide workshop space to maintain the equipment in good working order.

“An ancillary suite of office and welfare facilities will also be provided on a mezzanine floor.”

However, objectors say the proposed site for the expansion would be too close to residential homes.

“Workers on the golf course will have visibility over my property,” one resident, who lives on The Mount, said in an objection.

Hugh O’Reilly, who is also against the plans, said: “The proposed development consists of a ‘greenkeeping facility, a yard, office space and canteen’, and threatens to turn the neighbourhood from a traditional quiet Leeds suburban backwater into an industrial estate.”

In the planning statement, Ryden said it undertook a formal pre-application consultation with Leeds City Council before the current plans were formally submitted.

“The Council expressed support for the proposals in principle, subject to compliance with a number of detailed points,” it said.