‘Save Shelthorpe golf course’ petition launched
A PETITION has been launched to save part of Shelthorpe Golf Course from being transformed into a cemetery.
The borough council-owned course is one of three sites identified for a new town cemetery, the other two are on land at Allendale Road and in Nanpantan.
If Shelthorpe is chosen, the 18-hole course would be reduced to a nine-hole facility.
Loughborough’s Arthur Gould, Harriett Burt and Anne Gray have been collecting signatures for a petition to “save Shelthorpe’s public golf course.”
In a joint letter to the Echo they said: “It is the view of many residents in Shelthorpe, and beyond, that this public facility should never have been considered in the first place.
“Like the tennis courts on Park Road – which have mercifully been saved – the golf course is an amenity for those who can- not afford the fees required by private clubs.
“In our spare time and on a relatively few evenings we have managed to collect over 350 (and counting) signatures. The amount itself is of less importance than the fact that wherever we asked, people were only too willing to sign. Only a handful of people refused.
“Some recalled how the golf course had always been there – going back decades (when cows were on the neighbouring fields).
“Young adults remembered the times they gathered there to meet their friends. Others used it for walking the dog or for simple exercise.
“Once cut in half, it will never be the same again.
“It will become even more vulnerable to future closure.
“Don’t let this valuable amenity – not just for those living in Shelthorpe but for the whole of Loughborough and beyond – be taken from us.”
Charnwood Borough Council is seeking views by September 23, on proposed sites for the burial ground.
People can also have a say and find out more at www.charnwood.gov.uk/cemetery_consultation