Councillor 'won't be told how to vote' during 'Belfry of Bosworth' debate

A borough councillor has claimed he'd been 'accosted' and told 'you've got to be against this' over an application to build lodges at a former golf course. Two subterranean lodges at Kyngs Golf and Country Club, in Station Road, Market Bosworth, were approved last week following the green light also being given to developer Statue Homes in April for a 50-room golf hotel at the site.

A further attempt to build four 'golf holiday homes' on the site was refused last month. But six more had already been approved for the course in 2020.

During the meeting of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s plans committee to discuss the current application, Conservative councillor Brian Sutton claimed to have been ‘accosted’ and told ‘You’ve got to be against this, you’ve got to be against that’. Although he didn't reveal who had tried to influence his vote, he said: “I will not come on this committee and be told how to vote, and I don’t think legally we should be allowed to be told how to vote.”

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The lodges will be partially submerged and have grass roofs. Facing onto the fairway, they will have a kitchen/diner, a living room, and a double bedroom with an ensuite. The site – a former tip – was turned into a golf course in 2011 by ex PGA professional Nick Leatherland, but the facility was closed in 2016.

There had been 23 objections to the latest proposals, with Market Bosworth Parish Council and the town’s historical group The Market Bosworth Society also objecting. Locals had expressed fears the scheme was a ‘trojan horse application’ – a bid to obtain planning permission in order to change it for something else down the road – with one saying there was 'no evidence of any attempts to maintain or reinstate a golf club or course'.

Another objector suggested the change of wording in the plans – with previous attempts referring to 'golf holiday lodges' and this application referring simply to 'holiday lodges' meant 'the applicant is looking to depart from the use of the land as a golf course by stealth'. Other concerns included the impact on the countryside and 'the potential hazards to vehicles and people caused by wayward golf balls'.

One objection said: “This is one of a series in the attempts to build on the site of the old golf course. Although they all refer to the golf course in some way, shape or form, in the last eight years, there has been no attempt to even give lip service to the reinstatement of the playing facilities, nor to providing a financial base for the capital and revenue costings associated with this.”

But George Denny, who spoke at the meeting for Statue Homes, said the objections were ‘unfounded’. “This application makes the most of the site as it is and ticks all the boxes addressing landscape concerns and objections,” he said. “I’ve openly and honestly only tried to make Kyngs Golf and Country Club the Belfry of Bosworth, as members kindly referred to it,” he said.

Councillor Maureen Cook responded: “We’ve still got concerns I’m afraid about this application. We’ve still not had sight of the scale plan of the golf course and this application. The cabins are between holes 9 and 10, I just don’t see how that works.” She said people who stayed in self-catering accommodation wanted outside space for a BBQ and to ‘hang washing’, adding: “Can you imagine that on the golf course?”

She said: “It just does not assimilate with the character of the surrounding area and it does not complement the tourism theme within our borough.”

But fellow Conservative Coun Sutton said he couldn’t believe the ‘animosity that goes on with this site’, adding: “Nobody objected much when it was a tip.” He also said fears the applications were stealth attempts to turn the land into residential use didn’t make sense, and said anybody who appeared before the committee to try and change the permission from a golf course to homes would ‘be a mug’.

Council leader Stuart Bray took issue with claims the two lodges would affect countryside views, saying: “How can it be visibly intrusive when it’s subterranean?” And Councillor Dawn Glenville, the borough's current mayor, said she had played at the club and 'it was a beautiful golf course'. She added: "We should be supporting our tourism and leisure, and we should definitely get behind this and get people coming back to this area.”

The application was approved with 13 councillors voting in favour, and three against.

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