Sevenoaks’ Nimbys prefer a derelict golf course to housing

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This week, Nimby Watch is golfing in Sevenoaks, a leafy town firmly within London’s commuter belt.

Hang on, we’re golfing now? Since when did either of us play golf? Hey, I’ll have you know I placed third in a golfing competition just last month. I take my time at the tee deeply seriously.

That was a pirate-themed crazy golf course in Great Yarmouth, and only six of you were playing. Third place is still third place, just like crazy golf is still golf. Anyway, today we’re looking at Broke Hill Golf Course, which is very much a full-size 18-hole golf course, taking up all the acreage of prime land that normally entails.

I get the impression you haven’t brought us here for a nice round of golf, after all. Well, there would be a few problems with that, not least that Broke Hill Golf Course has been closed since 2017, and left derelict ever since.

So, we’re at an abandoned plot of land with some run-down buildings. That seems more our speed. Why’s it been left fallow for so long? I’m glad you asked! Essentially, developers wanted to use the site for housing, and proposed 800 homes and a 180-bed retirement home on the site in 2019. You will be shocked to hear that planning was refused. The developer tried to appeal, but this too was refused in 2022. And yes, that whole process took a full three years (and ended five years after the site fell into disuse).

Was the reason that people needed the vital amenity of a local golf course? Was that sarcasm? Look, I will admit I am unsympathetic to golf: most of us manage to have hobbies that don’t use up about the same amount of British land as our entire housing stock (if we exclude the gardens). 

The golfers of Sevenoaks have hardly been short of alternative golfing options since losing Broke Hill Golf Course, either – a cursory search suggests there are no fewer than 21 golf clubs open and operating today within just 10 miles of the town centre. So this land hasn’t been open to the public, isn’t currently being used and isn’t vitally needed for golf.

So why was this development refused in 2022, then? Because a disused golf course still qualifies as green belt land, and the fact that this was a green belt development clinched the argument in 2022. Of course, times have changed since then – councils have been given stricter housebuilding targets, and have been told to redesignate lower-quality green belt land – such as disused golf courses – as ‘grey belt’, and allow development on it.

And did that happen here? Yes. Not only was the golf course redesignated as ‘grey belt’ land by the council’s planning officers, it was also specifically designated for housing on Sevenoaks Council’s own draft Local Plan, which was required to specify land for 17,000 new homes.

Spurred on by these changes, the developer that owns the site put in a revised proposal, now for 660 homes and a 150-unit retirement village, which went to Sevenoaks Council’s planning committee last month.

Well, given the land was specifically designated for housing by Sevenoaks’ own local plan, I think we can all see where this is going. The specific plan put forward by the developers was specifically supported by the council’s professional planning officers, too. So, of course we can: by 12 votes to four, the committee voted to refuse the development, in the wake of a vigorous local campaign opposing it. Nimbys one, Local Plan nil.

I’m sure the locals had some extremely well-grounded and valid concerns about the development. As ever, there were the usual worries over traffic congestion and the character of the area. But a particular highlight raised by one councillor stood out: ‘It will effectively join Bromley to Sevenoaks if it goes ahead.’

Bromley is almost 12 miles away from Sevenoaks, meaning that even if homes were built in single file it would take around 4,000 terraced homes or 3,000 semi-detached ones to join it up with Sevenoaks – meaning a modest 660-home development on a golf course wouldn’t come remotely close to doing it. And yet, this was enough to prompt a councillor to vote against the proposals.

So, what happens now? Well, the golf course that has now been left derelict for nine years will remain derelict for now. Under the new housing regime, the Secretary of State – that’s Angela Rayner now – has three weeks to decide if she wishes to call in any large housing development that is turned down by a local council. Unsurprisingly, the developer is urging her to do so in this case.

Is expecting the central Government to repeatedly override local councillors to get anything built a workable solution to the housing shortage? Probably not! It’s also unlikely to be a good look for a government whose number one mission is, we’re told, devolving more power to councils and mayors.

But as it stands, nothing’s working: councillors know they’re required to authorise building. They have to write Local Plans saying they’ll do it. They have to designate land for it. But when it comes to actually approving development, they seem able to ignore all of that and say no with impunity. You can lead a councillor to a planning meeting, it seems, but you can’t make him think.

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