Whitby Golf Club Shocked Over Potential Loss of 30 Acres

Whitby Golf Club says it was shocked that Scarborough Borough Council is proposing to add thirty acres of the golf course to the towns local plan, potentially earmarking the land for future development.

The Golf Club has written to all of the town's borough councillors to highlight their dismay at the proposal.

The club say they are facing a number of issues including not being able to get a lease for the land as they are in debt to the council, not being able to borrow money as they don't have a lease, and needing to find £135k to repair a footbridge over Upgang Ravine.

The land is owned by the Borough Council, in the past the club has leased the land from the council but the lease has expired and legally cant be renewed as the club is in debt to the Borough Council to the tune of £28k.

Town Councillor Linda Wild says if the club lost the land it would make it's future untenable.

The golf course land is one of several parcels of land in Whitby that have been put forward as potential additions to the local plan, councillor John Nock thinks the town council should object to the additions.

The club say the loss of the land would leave them with a nine hole course which would not be financially viable.

Whitby Town councillor Gareth Jackson says they will be writing to the Borough Council with a number of suggestions.

The letter from the Finance Director of Whitby Golf Club says...

Dear Councillor

This email has been sent all SBC councillors who represent a ward in Whitby and surrounding area.  

I am the Finance Director of Whitby Golf Club Ltd and am currently looking for your support with our protracted negotiations for a new lease with Scarborough Borough Council. I have already spoken/been in touch with some of you and thank you for your advice to date.  

With the maintenance of local green spaces and the health and wellbeing of residents firmly at the top of the government agenda my board colleagues and I are currently looking for as much outside help as possible with the delivery of our business plan and quest to secure a new lease. I have written a summary below of the background to these negotiations, which has you will see have been ongoing for a number of years!

To give some context it currently costs the club £120,000 per annum to maintain the golf course land which, as well as being a vital local facility, forms a spectacular gateway to travellers arriving to Whitby along the Sandsend Road. The club has utilised the downtime created by the pandemic to significantly improve the clubhouse to allow access to non-golfers, local residents and visitors and this has proved very popular since the initial easing of restrictions on 12th April. Our major challenge is the urgent need to replace the footbridge over the Upgang Ravine which, having been built in 1962, replaced a structure originally installed in the early 1930s.

Whitby Golf Club has been in existence since 1892 and its members have been the custodians of the land on the cliff tops between Whitby and Sandsend since 1896. It is one of the oldest golf clubs in Yorkshire. 

The success of both the game of golf and club here in Whitby have waxed and waned over the years. The club leases the land and clubhouse from Scarborough Borough Council and in 2014 the club agreed a deal to give up 9.2 acres of the course in return for a reduced level of rent. The board at the time undertook independent valuations of the land and understood that it was worth in the region of £3 million.

The club was also actively encouraged by council representatives to allow the council to sell the rest of the course to a private owner as the best way to secure the long-term future of this historic club. In mid-2017 the members agreed to allow the council to sell the course to Yorkshire Ventures to become part of its redevelopment plans for Raithwaite Hall. Correspondence sent to the Estates Manager in December 2017 fully outlined the impact that the failure of any deal would have on club finances. Despite heads of terms agreed by both the club and council negotiations dragged on with many deadlines missed and in February 2019 Yorkshire Ventures went into administration. 

I became Director of Finance in August 2019. My first task was to investigate winding the club up, but having reviewed the operation and finances, I identified that there could be a future. Following a number of meetings with representatives from SBC my board colleagues and I were promised the possibility of future funding in return for agreeing a new lease with revised level of rent. In order to secure this, we would have to present a business plan that demonstrated that we could sustain the long-term financial health of Whitby Golf Club.

Since early 2020 the board, along with the enthusiastic support of the members, has been working tirelessly to develop our new business plan. At this stage it is also worth stating that the 4 directors, 2 officers and company secretary all work on an unpaid voluntary basis. 

Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, we have delivered significant changes to the golf offer and general facilities at the clubhouse including opening up for visitors to use bar and catering facilities which has been very popular since 12th April with walkers, dog owners and cyclists.

We have a new Junior Academy with 30 members, new adult coaching with focus on Women in Golf (indeed 4 of 6 board members are women - still highly unusual in golf clubs nationwide!), the new Golf Swing Room (simulator) delivered with £10,000 grant funding from the R&A plus we have relaunched our membership packages with focus on more flexibility and better value for all. As a CASC registered sports club we also offer more affordable membership schemes to players on lower incomes. 

A full business plan was presented to SBC in November 2020 with request for funding totalling £135,000. This was to cover the cost of replacing the footbridge over the Upgang Ravine, an integral part of the golf course land, and the redevelopment of part of the course. The latter is essential to allow the club to maintain 18 holes of golf, which was set as a condition in the Local Plan of the return of the 9.2 acres we agreed to give up in 2015. 

Given the work that has been done to date and the negotiations with SBC the members and local residents were shocked to read that the council has included a further 30 acres of golf course land in the latest Local Plan consultation. Despite our long-term negotiations with SBC this was done without any prior discussion with the board of Whitby Golf Club and has completely undermined our position. The board has already presented a review to SBC which shows that a 9-hole course is not financially viable. 

Despite a further very positive progress meeting on Thursday 6th May we are at an impasse. The golf course land and buildings belong to Scarborough Borough Council, but the club is being expected to raise funds to pay for vital infrastructure upgrades to the course AND offer to pay additional rent. SBC keeps raising debt owed by the club - to clarify this is now £28,000 and is in the process of being repaid. I refer you back to paragraph three as to how the club has incurred this debt.