Thin end of the land grab wedge
Global crisis versus the game of golf
One of the inherent risks of being a weekly newspaper columnist is writing on a Monday . . . about events happening on a Tuesday . . . to be read by the great and the good on a Wednesday!
Well, it’s a belter this week!
As I write, South Ayrshire Council’s leadership panel are preparing to hear a report that recommends the allocation of £200,000 for a Golf Academy on the hallowed acres of Ayr’s Seafield golf course.
Disguised as agenda item 6(c) under the topic “VAT Recovery Funds –Members Priorities” – it will be the first real skirmish in a war that is ultimately destined for the Sheriff Court . . . and probably beyond that.
The story so far has more twists, dog-legs, traps and land deemed out-of-bounds than a round at Turnberry in a howling gale . . . blindfolded.
The Ayrshire Golf Trust want to build a Golf Academy - and not just anywhere in Ayrshire will do. They’ve targeted a prime spot – if not the premier spot – in South Ayrshire’s Council’s golfing acres . . . two holes at historic Seafield golf course.
These ‘lost’ holes would be replaced by two new holes on land that is currently used by school-age footballers, amateur football clubs and countless dog walkers – the Old Racecourse.
The fact that the Old Racecourse is protected ‘Common Good’ land, has been for centuries and isn’t SAC’s bauble to play with – has upset lots of people.
And I mean – lots and lots of people!
The last time I looked, more than 10,000 people - and I’m one of them - had objected to this council ‘land grab’.
And thousands more see this as the classic ‘thin end of the wedge’ from a local council who have already cast a developer’s eye over other Common Good land, including Ayr’s beachside jewel, the Low Green.
So why doesn’t South Ayrshire Council just say ‘no’ to the Ayrshire Golf Trust?
Well – that’s the question we’re all asking.
And the one man who won’t answer it is Councillor Brian Connolly – the influential independent councillor whose support is helping to shore up the minority SNP led council.
Oh. I almost forgot to mention. He’s also the chairman of the Ayrshire Golf Trust!
A conflict of interest here? I don’t think so.
Having campaigned for the golf academy for years – from stunted photographs at Seafield in the local press to flogging the idea to community council meetings like a travelling salesman – we already know where Mr Connolly’s interests lie.
And added to all this intrigue – we have a huge injection of irony.
The £200,000 SAC plans to give to the Golf Academy project isn’t really their money at all!
It’s part of a £2.4 million ‘windfall’ from HMRC for charging VAT at leisure facilities when they shouldn’t have.
Rather than return the money to every golfer or swimmer who paid unnecessary VAT – SAC has, quite admirably, agreed to spend the money on leisure facilities, spread equally throughout ever electoral ward in South Ayrshire.
But who is the only non-SAC interest getting a slice of this “windfall” pie?
Yes . . . step forward the Ayrshire Golfing Trust.
If you live in Troon, Prestwick, Ayr North, Ayr East of Ayr West – your £300,000 per ward share just went down to £270,000
If your live in Maybole and North Carrick, or Girvan and South Carrick, your £230,000 dividend has been trimmed to £200,000.
The irony is magnificent. Most people in South Ayrshire are paying for something most people in South Ayrshire don’t really want in the first place.
And South Ayrshire Council is shelling out funds that weren’t really theirs in the first place either!
All this has got me wondering under what circumstances might South Ayrshire Council NOT support a speculative and controversial new golf academy?
Mmmm . . . a global pandemic, restrictions on travel and tourism, record levels of homelessness and unemployment, extra funding requirements at schools, hospitals and care homes, years of uncertainty and potential austerity . . . ?
Mind you, it takes a lot to trump a state-of-the-art floodlit driving range.
By Tuesday afternoon, Councillor Connolly’s vanity project will either be deemed out of bounds . . . or his smile will have stretched from a Par 3 to an extra long Par 5.
And once again, the council whose motto is “Ne’er Forget the People” will hold this vital leadership panel meeting . . . with ‘the people’ excluded!
And the one man who won’t answer it is Councillor Brian Connolly