Some accurate Rookwood facts

A number of golfers wrote letters to this paper last week in support of retaining their subsidised use of the golf course at Rookwood. According to one letter Rookwood is a ‘golden goose’ delivering golden eggs to the council. However, this is far from the case.

As the council’s cabinet member for finance and assets, I think it is in the public interest that residents have some accurate facts about Rookwood, especially as regards its cost and any benefit to those of us who do not play golf but who do pay council tax.

In recent years the council has twice had to restructure the operating lease for the

site, both times reducing the income to the council (and thus reducing any benefit for all of us who pay council tax) because the operator was unable to make the payments due.

If as is suggested from last week’s letters golf is booming, then the council has yet to see any advantage from that trend because arrears are building and there is no reasonable prospect of any improved financial benefit to Horsham district’s residents.

In fact the financial return from retaining a golf course at Rookwood is 90 per cent less than from implementing the now substantially revised scheme which resulted from considerable public input and consultation.

This proposal would turn most of the north of the site from a golf course into a country park making it available for all of us to use.

Given the poor performance of this golf course, the council as recently as 18 months ago commissioned a report from a leading firm of leisure property experts and chartered surveyors.

It concluded that ‘there is an adequate supply of golf courses to the resident population within the 20 minute drive time catchment of Rookwood Golf Course. Accordingly I am of the opinion that there is no need for Rookwood Golf Course on the basis of the accepted quantitative criteria for golf.’

This would apply even if the nearby Ifield Golf Course were to be developed. If the drive time is extended to between 20-30 minutes the provision is further improved.

So looking at the true situation, the choice facing us

at Rookwood is whether to...

1. Continue using public funds to subsidise the small percentage of the population, and not all of them Horsham District residents, who actually play golf there, when according to England Golf ’s parameters there is more than adequate provision within reasonable reach, OR 2. Open up the space for the use of us all, provide much needed affordable homes, deliver an eco-friendly development on the most sustainable site in the District, keep 70 per cent of the whole site as green space, sort out flooding problems and in doing so generate at least ten times the current income than we get from a golf course.

The headlines in the national press talk frequently these days about the enormous financial pressure councils throughout the country are facing in this postBrexit and Covid-19 world, and we are not exempt from this.

In Horsham District we enjoy a high number of services that are over and above those a council is required to provide. These include leisure centres, swimming pools and the Capitol theatre in Horsham. I know which of the above choices I would make and which services I want to protect.

PAUL CLARKE Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets, Local Economy and Parking, Horsham District Council