Group set to express interest in pitch & putt site

Jon Tandy, a member of the Friends of Meole Brace Golf Club, which registered the site as an asset of community value in 2014, said there will an expression of interest in buying the pitch & putt.

Shropshire Council announced its plan to sell the 3.95 acre pitch & putt site earlier this week.

However, because the Shrewsbury pitch & putt is listed as an asset of community value the council must give the group which registered the site six weeks to decide if it is interested in buying the land.

If the group does express an interest then it is given six months to come up with an offer to buy the site.

Despite the process the council is under no obligation to accept the offer and can sell to the highest bidder.

Mr Tandy said he had received notification of the intention to sell earlier this week.

He said: "There will be an expression of interest.

"Once we know how much it will cost we will decide if it is feasible to go forward."

There is no indication of the value of the site, although it is more than £1 million.

This was confirmed when the full council was asked to back the decision to sell the site, despite having been previously agreed by the authority's cabinet – all decisions involving transactions of more than £1 million must be ratified with a vote of the full council.

Earlier this week Shropshire Council said the property would be marketed by Colliers.

A spokesman for the authority said the land is expected to be "of interest to hotels and leisure companies, drive-through food outlets, food and drink operators, or for extra-care housing and health facilities – or a mix of these".

Colliers will invite proposals from operators and developers and will report back to the authority towards the end of the year, when a successful bidder is due to be chosen.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for assets, said: "The future of the pitch and putt site was reviewed last year after figures showed that usage of the facility had declined from a peak of 2,590 visits in 2011 to below 1,600 last year.

"The decision to sell the pitch and putt course was taken following a public consultation in late 2016, which looked at a number of possible options for the site. We also sought the views of key stakeholders including Sport England, relevant national associations, Shrewsbury Town Council, Bannatyne’s, local residents’ associations and the current course operator.

"The sale of the site will clearly generate a significant capital receipt for the council, which we will reinvest in the golf course and in our regeneration plans for Shropshire."

The Pitch & Putt course will continue to operate as normal until building work begins on site.

Meole Brace Golf Course is not affected by the plans and will continue to open and operate as normal.

Under the terms proposed by the council the golf course would be given £50,000 for training facilities.