Golf course could be replaced by 500,000 trees, say council
ALLESTREE Golf Course could potentially be replaced with up to 500,000 new trees, it has been revealed by council leaders.
City councillor and cabinet member Nicola Roulstone spoke of the plan during a recent meeting in which the authority’s ruling cabinet officially rebuffed any chance for the golf course to stay open.
Campaigners and political opposition parties say there are a number of firms interested in running the course.
But the authority’s leaders say any interest has come too little and too late and the cabinet’s dismissal of an approved motion, urging for further discussions about the golf course’s future, means there is now no hope for it to reopen.
It will stay merged with parkland at Allestree Park, as has been the case since the start of the year. And now it has been revealed that 500,000 trees could be planted on the site.
Cllr Roulstone said the idea was part of the council’s ambition to decarbonise parts of the city. There is no suggestion at this stage that all the trees will definitely be planted but there is “potential” for it to happen.
She said at the meeting: “We are starting to look at the environmental impact. We have a policy of trying to decarbonise this city. What better opportunities could there be at this park?
“It is my understanding that potentially over half a million trees could be planted on this land as part of the rewildingo.”
Fellow cabinet member Jonathan Smale said the Derby public wanted the site to be parkland, not a golf course. If you look at the public comments they want a park for everyone to enjoy, not for a group of 90 (people).”
Opposition councillors who prefer the area to stay as a golf course branded the council’s decision “a bad day for democracy”.
Despite interest from the Ian Woosnam Academy and emails from representatives sent to cabinet members and the council’s chief executive, the council says it has received no official “business case” for the course.
Labour councillor Martin Repton was fuming about the decision. He said: “I’m saddened because we can all see the way this is going that you’re going to ignore the will of the council.”