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Leeds Citizens' Panel: Proposed Closure of Council-run Golf Courses Survey 2014

Introduction This consultation is about the futu re land use of Middleton Park Golf Course and Gotts Park Golf Course in Leeds. We are interested in the views of both golfers and non-golfers from across the city. There are 8 questions to answer and an opportunity to comment on ideas to transform the landscape into a natural looking park.

What will my answers be used for? The answers you provide will be used for consultation purposes and help us make a decision about the future of the golf courses at Gotts Park and Middleton Park.

Who has access to the information I pr,ovide? Your response to the survey will be available to research officers in Leeds City Council. Your information will be kept safe and secure in line with the Data Protection Act. When the results are shared publicly, your responses are anonymised so that they cannot be linked to you.

How long will it take to finish filling in the questionnaire? It should take you about 15 to 30 minutes. You will spend some time reading information, thinking, and answering questions.

The deadline to respond to this survey is Friday 4 July 2014.

Please use a black ballpoint pen and write your answers in capital letters within the boxes provided.

Please turn over to begin the survey

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• Please enter your Leeds Citizens' Panel 10 number: (You can find this on the letter that came with this questionnaire)

Background

Middleton Park Golf Course is next to the Middleton Park estate. Gotts Park Golf Course is adjacent to Arm ley Park in the west of the city.

In the past golf courses run by the Council were the only ones to offer pay and play opportunities at a reasonable price and served as an important way to introduce people to golf. There are now 24 private golf sites in Leeds some of which offer competitive membership rates with opportunities open to everyone; along with pay and play green fees similar to those charged by the council (one provider offers 18 holes for a fee of £5).

The number of people who play golf across the country is falling. The Sport England Active People Survey conducted over a number of years demonstrates that adult participation has declined from 948,300 in 2007/8 to 772,800 in 2012/13- a drop of nearly 19%. At Middleton Park Golf Course and Gotts Park Golf Course there has been a considerable fall in pay and play rounds of golf played- nearly 60% at Middleton, and over 60% at Gotts from 2006/7 to 2013/14.

In the 2013/14 financial year, Middleton Park Golf Course had a £103,000 subsidy from the Council and similarly Gotts Park Golf Course had £114,000 - a total of £217,000.

Task groups were formed in January 2013 to find ways to reduce this subsidy and looked at the following options:

Option 1: for the golf clubs at Middleton and Gotts to take on the running of the course Middleton Municipal Golf Club has made it clear that they would not be able to take over the management of the course. Gotts Park Golf Club have confirmed that they do not have the capacity to take on the management of the golf course but would consider it if the Council made the decision to close the course.

Option 2: to find another organisation to run each course A commercial provider was approached along with a charity to run Middleton Park Golf Course and both agreed that they would not be able to run the course on a long term basis without losing money. Wlth regard to Gotts Park Golf Course, there may be a possibility that the club would work in partnership, but the club would only consider this as a last resort.

Option 3: focus on promoting golf at each course and reduce the cost of provision A number of initiatives were tried to promote golf to more people including leaflets, banners, and advertising billboards. Unfortunately, it has not proved possible to develop a business case to ensure that the golf courses could remove the current losses in the long term.

The Council cannot afford to continue to run Middleton Park Golf Course and Gotts Park Golf Course at a loss of£217,000 each year.

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• 01 . If you think that the Council should continue to subsidise Middleton Park Golf Course then please state your reason(s) below:

02. If you think that the Council should continue to subsidise Gotts Park Golf Course then please state your reason(s) below:

Alternative Use of Land

If the Council decides to close these golf courses then a different use for the land wou ld obviously be needed.

In both cases , semi-natural parkland is proposed with the feel of a country park, with trees and natural grassland; there would however be formal pathways, picnic tables and information provided to enable people to enjoy each park. In the case of Middleton Park Golf Course the idea of an arboretum is proposed which would allow a collection of trees to be displayed in the park.

Please take a look at the initial draft landscape proposals for alternative use of the land at Middleton and Gotts. These are enclosed in the envelope that this questionnaire came in.

The saving shown in each of the following questions makes an allowance for how much it would cost to run each park.

03. Do you support the idea that the Counc il establish a park arboretum with semi-natural parkland accessible to the public which would become part of the managed estate of Middleton Park, saving around £76,000 each year?

DYes

D No

0 Don't know

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• Q4. Do you support the idea that the Council establish the Benjamin Gott Country Park accessible to the public, saving around £94,000 each year?

D Yes

D No

D Don't know

Q5. Please provide any comments you have on the initial draft landscape proposal for the land at Middleton Park Golf Course.

QS. Please provide any comments you have on the initial draft landscape proposal for the land at Gotts Park Golf Course.

Q7. Are there any other options that you think should be considered?

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• Finally ...

Q8. Do you play golf?

DYes

D No

Thank you for taking part in this Leeds Citizens' Panel survey. All the information that you give us will be kept confidential and wiU only be used for research and consultation purposes.

Please put this questionnarie into the fireepost envelope provided and post it back to us.

If you have misplaced your freepost envelope then here is the address to return the survey:

Freepost Plus RSCS-ZT JU-CLXH Leeds City Council (Leeds Citizens' Panel) Merrion House 110 Merrion Centre Merrion Way Leeds LS2 SET

If you need to get in touch, our contact details are:

Email: citizenspanel@leeds.gov.uk Telephone: 0113 247 4610

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