Blog: Taking a pot shot over golf course sale fears

Councillor Barrow, in a statement and via Twitter, said there was no point in starting a campaign to save the golf club, because nobody wanted to buy it and the council wasn't marketing it.

He was responding to a meeting, held this week, at which a community group called Friends of Meole Brace was formed after rumours the facility could be flogged off.

On social media he said: "Looks like the campaign to stop us selling it is going to be successful before it has started, why scaremonger is my question."

Well, perhaps I can help.

The council, indeed Mr Barrow himself, has said that if an offer came in for the golf course, it is something they would have to look at. Admittedly he was only saying this in response to the rumours that led to the setting up of the campaign in the first place, but there we are. It is out there. The golf course is not safe.

And it is entirely sensible that the council should take this approach. It needs money, we all know that. If a massive offer was made for the golf course, naturally its sale should be considered. To do otherwise would be like Shrewsbury Town refusing to discuss selling Joe Jacobson for £1 million.

You don't necessarily agree to the deal at the end of the day, but you have to discuss it.

But equally, it is right for people who don't want it to be sold to take action now. To leave it until there is some sort of formal announcement is often to leave it until too late.

Let's take the recent case of adult day care, shall we? According to the council those affected were widely consulted. But if you listen to those affected, they had no idea the closure of centres was on the cards. By the time they rallied the troops, it was too late. And what's more, their protests were dismissed as not "significant or representative".

So who can blame concerned people for getting their act together now?

It is not like there's no history there. It is only three years since Councillor Barrow said that an offer - thought to be more than £15 million - had been put in for the golf course. That may have come to nothing, but it shows that its an asset that others are aware of.

The golf course might not be being actively marketed, but there is an old adage about smoke and fire.

So, that's what all the fuss is about.

Hope that helps.

By David Burrows