Golf at Hollingbury Park Golf Course, rewilding at Waterhall

Brighton & Hove City councillors on the Policy & Resources Committee have this afternoon decided to retain an 18-hole golf course at Hollingbury Park Golf Course and that Waterhall Golf Course will be restored to chalk grasslands through a rewilding plan.

A Community Interest Company will rewild Waterhall Golf Course during a 25-year lease agreement. 

Councillors also agreed that the council will enter into a three-year lease agreement with the preferred leaseholder for Hollingbury Park Golf Course which will see it remaining as an 18-hole golf course.   

From 1 April 2020 the course will be managed by a Special Purpose Vehicle which will be a subsidiary of an already established Registered Charity in the city.

Councillor Alan Robins, chair of the city’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture committee and a member of the Policy & Resources Committee said:

“The leasing of Waterhall and Hollingbury Park Golf Courses offers opportunities for local people to invest in our city, it continues golf in the city as well as re-wilding public land, and this is good news for continuing access for everyone - at both locations.”  

It was also agreed that the council will enter into a longer 22-year lease agreement with the registered charity once they have obtained planning permission to extend and enhance the existing club house. 

The proposal sees the creation of a multipurpose facility encompassing sport, health, mindfulness and education with a green agenda and there's also a longer term proposal to create an ecology, landscape and National Park information centre together with conservationist group partners.