Councillors opposed to plans to lease a popular Isle of Wight attraction until 2027 say it will ‘block’ the regeneration of Yaverland and The Bay area.
The future of Brown’s Golf Course has come under fire after the Isle of Wight council tried to sign a five-year lease with a new tenant, Paul Saville, who took control of the attraction at the end of July.
Site central to wider area’s regeneration
Conservative councillors, Michael Beston, Paul Brading, Warren Drew, Tig Outlaw, Chris Quirk, Joe Robertson and Ian Ward, along with Labour’s Richard Quigley, say the site is central to the wider area’s regeneration.
They want the signing of the lease to be deferred until after the Bay Place Plan is approved — a future scheme setting out regeneration plans for Sandown, Shanklin and Lake, which all town and parish councils have contributed to.
Call for one-year lease
Instead, a one-year licence should be granted to Mr Saville, they say.
The councillors argue that committing the council to investing significant funding to Brown’s, which may or may not be compatible with an as yet unfinished regeneration plan, is ‘perverse’.
Six-month break clause
The Isle of Wight council argues deferral is not required because a six-month break clause has been written into the contract, to allow the authority to get the land back for future development.
The local authority says no decision has been made on the site’s future.
The place plan
County Hall says any place plan would be based on what Islanders want to see there, so it should not prevent ‘business as usual’ activities, nor stop the ‘safeguarding’ of things like the pavilion building at Brown’s, which needs repair work.
Cost of repairs
Over the summer, the putting greens, pitch and putt course and part of the pavilion reopened after £65,000 of repairs were carried out by the Isle of Wight council.
Work costing more than £117,000 needs to be done, in the next six months, so more of the attraction can reopen, said the authority.
Business plan based on five-year lease
It added the initial terms on offer were five years and Mr Saville’s business plan was written with that in mind, incurring more costs as a result.
The authority confirmed while negotiations were underway, no formal contract had yet been signed.
Under scrutiny
The matter will be discussed at the council’s corporate scrutiny committee next Tuesday, 10th October, where a way forward will be decided.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
