Council sends in bailiffs to take back golf course
BAILIFFS have repossessed council-owned land once used for a golf course in Portishead.
North Somerset Council, which owns the land formerly used as Portishead Approach Golf Course, sent in bailiffs on Monday to take back the site
The Approach Golf Course has been let to concessionaire Adrian Stiff for several years. But the course, at Nore Road, has been mothballed since April 2018 after a number of issues between Mr Stiff and the authority.
The council says four years’ rent for the land is outstanding.
Mr Stiff took over the golf course – where American TV star Kelsey Grammar once played – in 2014 on a 25-year lease from the council.
But after two footpaths that cross the course were made official rights of way following a campaign by local residents, Mr Stiff said it was no longer viable to operate.
He said the decision, which he claimed made three holes unusable, meant he could not expand the course to make it better and attract more business.
He also had permission to expand the golf course, which he says was held back due to the council demanding that a geological survey costing tens of thousands of pounds took place first. North Somerset Council had previously asked Mr Stiff to surrender the lease for the course.
It is understood that now it is back in the authority’s ownership an application will be made to list it as a town green, protecting it as an open green space for perpetuity.
Councillor Ash Cartman, North Somerset Council executive member for corporate services, said: “Given the rent arrears and failure to maintain the site, we’ve acted to forfeit the lease to be able to protect the future of this land.”