Swinton Park
Another housing company offered chance to buy Swinton Park Golf Club - but campaigners will fight to save it
Owners of the club voted 'in favour of pursuing' a £30m offer to buy the course from Bellway Homes last year - but now a different company is involved
Another housing company has been given the chance to buy Swinton Park Golf and Country Club.
Last year, the M.E.N. reported that owners of the club voted 'in favour of pursuing' a £30m offer to buy the course from Bellway Homes, subject to planning permission.
That deal did not materialise and now the board of directors at the club have switched to a different company.
Investors have been sent an email from the directors.
Seen by the M.E.N., it reads: "The Board of Directors wishes to inform you that Swinton Park Golf and Country Club 207 Limited has granted an option to buy the club to a subsidiary of Your Housing Group Limited (YHG).
"The option entitles YHG to acquire the club unconditionally.
"In the meantime the directors intend to continue to operate the golf club."
No further information was given or monetary values referenced.
Members of campaign group Save Swinton Park Golf Club met with Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett on Thursday to discuss the situation.
A meeting of the group has been scheduled for next Monday.
In November Salford city council gave extra protection to the club from developers.
It was placed on a register as an Asset of Community Value.
This status lasts for five years and if the club is put up for sale during this time, the community will be given first refusal and residents can enact a Community Right to Bid.
This will give them six months to decide if they can raise the cash to buy it.
A spokesman for Save Swinton Park Golf Club said: "The campaign to save the golf club for current members and future generations - and Salford - will continue and now be stepped up.
"We continue to follow positive legal channels with our legal team. The golf club is a valued community asset and we remain determined to fight any future planning applications.
"Now, more than ever, we need the community to come together to fight for the future of the club.
"A community meeting will be held at 7pm at St Luke's Church Hall on Swinton Park Road on Monday, February 17th .We urge members, residents and members of the public to attend."
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “There has been much speculation about the golf club since spring last year and our stance at Salford City Council remains exactly the same.
"The golf club is a private facility, but it is important to local people, and to those across the city who play golf and we would want to see it remain as a golf course.
“The city’s planning policies protect the course from development and set the bar high for any future proposals. While the land is privately owned any future planning application would have to be submitted and formally considered by the planning panel.
“I had written two open letters to the owners of the golf course, and have been chasing them to find out the plans for its future since last year. The owners responded to me on the 31 January 2020 and I met with them last week to find out more about their intentions. This golf course isn’t simply a financial asset it represents more than simply investment for a business, it is a community, it is a green lung and a huge asset to our city.
The decision to declare the golf course an Asset of the Community was, we believe, made after the current owners entered into an unconditional option to sell the land to Your Housing."