Driving range plans withdrawn

The plans to build a golf driving range on the playing fields at Springfield Park have been withdrawn.

The controversial planning application to build a golf driving range on open fields in Springfield Park has been withdrawn from the Council's planning department.

Link4Life, the council's arms length management organisation for sport and leisure, withdrew the application earlier this week. The plan sought to build a single storey building with room for 30 driving bays, a perimeter fence which could measure up to 20 metres high in places, and associated floodlighting.

The application was the subject of huge numbers of objection letters from residents and Sport England, the non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is in charge of sport at grassroots level, also spoke out against the plans.

A spokesperson for the Friends of Springfield Park group, who gathered a large amount of local and regional support in their opposition to the proposed driving range, said: " This is a wonderful result, as it shows that not only commonsense, but also that business sense has prevailed.

"It is also credit to the officers of Link4Life, the council officers and the councillors themselves that they have listened to the park users and the people of Rochdale and the surrounding areas, as well as to the government body, Sport England regarding the huge loss of many different sporting facilities, and the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit, whose concerns are the huge adverse impact that a project such as this would have on the incredibly varied and diverse wildlife and ecology in the park area specifically and the River Roch valley generally.

"The Friends of Springfield Park Ltd group have all worked incredibly hard to influence this result with a wonderful show of teamwork and would like to thank everyone who supported and encouraged them with votes and with objection letters.

"The Friends of Springfield Park Ltd group look forward now to working with all of the Rochdale local government departments to achieve the Vision Plan put forward to the council several months ago, which incorporates many of the park user's and general public's ideas for the redevelopment, regeneration and rejuvenation of the whole of Springfield Park over the next few years."

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen said: “I am delighted that common sense has finally prevailed over the proposed driving range at Springfield Park. 

"Sport England’s intervention in this application really made a difference. 

"What the Council needs to do now is forget a driving range and work with Link4Life to improve sporting facilities at both Springfield Park and across Rochdale. 

"I have been involved with Springfield Park for over 30 years – this is now an opportunity to look at the needs of all users of the park. I will be working with Councillors William Hobhouse, Andrew Abbott and the Friends Group on moving forward from here.”

Councillor Colin Lambert, leader of the local Labour group, said: "After everything that has been said and declared regarding the golf driving range at Springfield Park, I am glad that it has been withdrawn from planning.

"I would ask that now people sit down and discuss openly and honestly the issues surrounding this application. When the decision to proceed with the application was made, who took that decision and who mislead who?"

Labour Councillor Ibrar Khan said: "This is great news for campaigners and a victory for common sense. The Friends of Springfield Park group must be congratulated in their determination to challenge these plans and make the council listen to local people’s concerns. I cannot understand, though, why it has taken so long for our council to realise the scale of opposition to these proposals.

"Why did our Liberal Democrat ruling group persist in ignoring the likes of the Friends of Springfield Park, Government Ministers, Sport England, local politicians and thousands of park users and residents who have signed petitions and made formal objections, to recklessly carry on with this undemocratic folly? That this Council tried for too long to carry on riding roughshod over local people’s wishes and ignoring the needs of local communities is a shocking affront to democracy.

"I understand the Friends of Springfield Park group are now seeking assurance that the application will not be resubmitted in the near future and that the existing objections would still stand if that did happen. I congratulate them on their determination and dedication in fighting to keep much-needed local facilities. This is a great example of people power winning the day."

Councillor Wera Hobhouse said: “I want to say a big thank you to the 200 residents who objected to this planning application by letter and email. The Council Planning Department has said that this is the largest number of individual planning objections it has received in a number of years. 

"This is a clear victory for local residents, but it is still uncertain whether Link4Life will try to re-submit a new application. I am calling for a guarantee that Link4Life will not be re-submitting the application. This money would be better spent bringing up to standard current sporting facilities within the park and also across the borough.”

It is not known at this stage whether or not Link4Life will amend their plans and resubmit them to the Council. If a resubmission is made this would be treated as an entirely seperate planning application with a new application number; so the hundreds of letters of objection to the original planning application would no longer stand. Anyone wishing to object to a resubmission would need to draft a new letter of objection.