Birmingham City Council Planning Committee 02 August 2018 I submit for your consideration the attached reports for the North West team. Recommendation Report No. Application No / Location / Proposal Refuse 9 2018/00937/PA Walmley Golf Club Brooks Road Sutton Coldfield Birmingham B72 1HR Redevelopment of existing golf club comprising demolition of an existing structure, extensions and improvements to clubhouse, new academy building, relocation of green keepers building plus extension, part alterations to existing golf course layout including starting new at golf course, new access road and track off Beech Hill Road and 57 market dwellings comprising 14 houses and 43 retirement living apartments. Refuse 10 2018/00938/PA Walmley Golf Club Brooks Road Sutton Coldfield Birmingham B72 1HR New access road and access track off Beech Hill Road, car parking area, retaining walls, substation and drainage Approve - Conditions 11 2018/04304/PA 188 Albert Road Handsworth Birmingham B21 9JT Change of use of dwelling house (Use Class C3) to 8 bed HMO (Sui Generis) Page 1 of 2 Corporate Director, Economy Approve - Temporary 12 2018/04370/PA Belwell Lane R67 - Mere Green Roundabout Mere Green Sutton Coldfield Birmingham B75 5BA Display of 3 no. non illuminated freestanding advertising signs Page 2 of 2 Corporate Director, Economy Committee Date: 02/08/2018 Application Number: 2018/00937/PA Accepted: 16/03/2018 Application Type: Full Planning Target Date: 15/06/2018 Ward: Sutton Wylde Green Walmley Golf Club, Brooks Road, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, B72 1HR Redevelopment of existing golf club comprising demolition of an existing structure, extensions and improvements to clubhouse, new academy building, relocation of green keepers building plus extension, part alterations to existing golf course layout including starting new at golf course, new access road and track off Beech Hill Road and 57 market dwellings comprising 14 houses and 43 retirement living apartments. Applicant: Walmley Golf Club, McCarthy and Stone Retirement Lifestyles Ltd and Cameron Homes Ltd, c/o Agent Agent: RPS Planning and Development Highfield House, 5 Ridgeway, Quinton, Birmingham, B32 1AF Recommendation Refuse 1. Proposal 1.1. This is a full application for planning permission for the redevelopment of Walmley Golf Club, which consists of three elements. These are: 1) Extension and improvement to the clubhouse; 2) Improved and additional playing facilities; and 3) Enabling residential development 1.2. Clubhouse: These works seek to extend, refurbish and modernise the existing clubhouse. An existing bungalow to the immediate south of the clubhouse would be demolished as well as part of a single storey section of the clubhouse, which would be replaced with a new 2 storey extension block. It would include a new internal lift within a new entrance/reception area that leads to a new bar/cafe and terrace with views out across the course and the wider New Hall Valley. In addition, the ground floor of the extension would accommodate the relocated ‘golf pro shop’. The first floor of the extension block in conjunction with the refurbishment of the first floor of the existing clubhouse would house the private function room, members’ restaurant and members’ bar/terrace, all to be served from the existing central kitchen. 1.3. The existing ‘drive through’ entrance would be in-filled to create a new snooker room on the ground floor and the remaining ground floor would house the extended and refurbished changing areas. Adjacent to the new extension block at a lower ground level would be a buggy/trolley store, which would have a grass roof. Page 1 of 24 1.4. The new extension block would extend as far as the existing footprint with a lower ridge than the existing clubhouse to give a subservient appearance. The existing buildings to be demolished including the bungalow have a Gross Internal Flow Area (GIFA) of approximately 1094sqm and the proposed extension would have a GIFA of approximately 1479sqm resulting in an increase of some 385sqm. 1.5. The clubhouse extension and the refurbishment of the existing clubhouse would consist of a limited palette of materials consisting of plain roof tiles, brick, render, timber and colour coated aluminium. This would result in a development of a contemporary appearance. 1.6. Playing Facilities/Course Works: These works include the creation of a new golf teaching academy including the following facilities: • x5 purposed built green complexes for the practice of short games shots and bunker play (fully irrigated). • x1 practice putting green. • A SNAG (Start New at Golf) Golf Course Layout (junior beginners course). • A teaching building featuring indoor putting swing analysis and classroom. • A floodlit netting practice ‘POD’ featuring 9 practice bays • All the above would be accessible by people with disabilities • Associated access road, pathways and car parking. • A new course maintenance building. • Native tree and shrub mitigation and screen planting. • Attenuation basins for the new housing development & practice facility. 1.7. These facilities would be located to the southern section of the golf course, south of the club house and a new 18th fairway, where its shares a boundary with properties located on Hawfield Grove and Netherdale Close. 1.8. The new Academy Training building would be single storey timber clad with a footprint in the region of 321sqm and would include 4 outside open air bays, 3 covered bays, 2 indoor bays containing swing analysis equipment, indoor putting and swing studio/class room as well as fully accessible WC shower and changing facilities suitable for disabled users and a lobby/refreshment area. It would be located on what is currently part of the existing 17th hole fairway, between a cluster of existing trees. Attached to this new building would be a ‘golf pod’. This is in essence an enclosed artificial grass netting space (approx. 30m in length) that allows golfers to use the longer distance clubs and includes floodlighting to enable longer use, including during winter months. 1.9. The existing greenkeepers building would be dismantled and re-erected on a new concrete slab to the eastern side of the area in question, south of the new 18th hole fairway, again between a cluster of trees. It would also include a new small extension (44sqm) in matching metal cladding for machinery storage. This facility would require vehicular access to its compound in the form of a new track from the new access road serving the enabling residential development. 1.10. Enabling Residential Development: The applicants have advised that they are looking to widen its reach and attraction to include groups currently excluded or uninterested in golf, wishing to bring in new members from groups currently not making use of the facilities by removing any physical or cultural barriers preventing easy access for the whole community, specifically through increasing the offering of disability golf. The works, detailed above, would bring facilities up to current Page 2 of 24 standards and seek to provide facilities for the less able, children, improved female facilities and facilities to enable wider access to the club and sport by the wider community. The applicants add that the disabled facilities include becoming a teaching facility for disabled and special needs children in North Birmingham. 1.11. The applicants also highlight that the planned works would generate additional income in order to sustain itself in the future including maintain stewardship of the 50ha course within the Newhall Valley. The applicant state that the Golf Club’s Articles of Association do not allow for any profits to be distributed to the members and the club cannot raise or borrow sufficient funds to support this project without selling a land asset. They continue that all income generated from the development and future activities would be retained by the golf club and spent only on the club. The applicants advise that only the amount of enabling development to enable this investment to be achieved is being sought. 1.12. The applicants recognise that the area subject to the enabling development is within the Green Belt and the proposed enabling residential development is inappropriate development in the Green Belt. They consider that the planned works detailed above would bring benefits that outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and the gain from contravening policy provides a benefit that could not otherwise be achieved. The applicant adds that the delivery of the facilities identified as benefits representing very special circumstances would be secured through a S106 Legal Agreement. 1.13. The area which would accommodate the enabling development measures approximately 2ha (230m by 82m) which the applicants describe as a ‘discrete finger of land’ surrounded on three sides by residential development and the forth side by the clubhouse. The enabling development would consist of 14 detached family houses and a separate block of 43, 2 bed retirement living apartments. A new access off Beech Hill Road would provide a single spine road running north- south. The 14 detached houses would be to the southern section of this parcel of land with the retirement apartment block to the north. 1.14. Each of the 14 new detached houses would be 2 storey, 5 bed homes set within large plots with off-street parking to their frontages, a garage and spacious private rear gardens. Their architectural design would be traditional with projecting gables and bay windows, constructed from red brick, with render and timber detailing. 1.15. The retirement apartment scheme would be set within a single 3 and 4 storey block, with a split in level of one storey height from one end to the other, to reflect changes in ground levels. There would also be a 2.9m step in levels in the scheme’s surrounding landscaping, achieved with retaining walls and some embankments.