Wirral Council is now seeking a developer for the proposed £50M Hoylake “golf resort”. This long-discussed project was officially announced yesterday by Wirral Council and now it remains to be seen if a developer can be found for the ambitious project.
As you can see from the map above the 285-acre site is on land between Hoylake, West Kirby and Newton/Frankby areas. I don’t know, but access to the development from Hoylake seems unlikely because of issues crossing the railway line. Â Over two years ago there was a rumour that American billionaire Donald Trump was interested in the development.
The golf resort will offer:
- A luxury hotel with associated restaurant, health, leisure and conference facilities
- The creation of an internationally acclaimed golf course
- An associated development commensurate with a high quality golf resort
It is of course true that Hoylake already has an internationally acclaimed golf course at Royal Liverpool.
Announcing the proposals Cllr Phil Davies, Leader of Wirral Council said:â€I am proud to launch the official search for a development partner to help Wirral Council realise our ambition to build a world class golf resort at Hoylake.
“The launch of the procurement process is an incredibly exciting step for Wirral and its future as a landmark destination for golf tourism. The commencement of this stage means we can move from expressions of interest to confirmation of concrete, firm bids and the appointment of a preferred developer. It is a complicated process and we are working to a tight schedule but I hope to be able to announce our chosen partner when Wirral hosts The Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club next July.
“As a Council, we are confident that with a suitable development partner in place we can deliver a top class golf resort that will build on the confidence generated by hosting such prestigious championships as The Open, The Ricoh Women’s British Open as well as Hoylake’s unique golfing pedigree. By embarking on the EU competitive dialogue process Wirral Council is demonstrating real intent to deliver an internationally acclaimed golf resort that golfers from across the world will travel to play and stay at. It’s going to be hugely exciting to see who bids to partner with us and the ideas they have for the site.â€
The preferred bidder will be confirmed in June, 2014.
So, what do you think?
- Do you think this project will be of interest to a developer?
- Is it a welcome development or will it detract from Royal Liverpool?
- Can Hoylake cope with more visitors and would Hoylake generally benefit from them?
- If it goes ahead, where will the access roads be located?
- Will it boost our local economy and create jobs for local people?
Feel free to have your say in the comments! (Don’t forget that comments from new contributors are automatically placed in a queue for moderation)
The idea of an international golf course in this area is a great step in the right direction. However, have the following points been considered:- 1) Roads. There is so much traffic in the area now, our roads have long reached saturation point so how are we going to accommodate all the extra traffic? 2) Existing Clubs. How will it affect the already exclusive Royal Liverpool G C? Surely they will lose a lot of competitions to this new venue, as well as members. 3) Municipal G C. From the map shown, it will mean that the Hoylake Municipal club will disappear, leaving nowhere for either it’s existing members or even the non member golfers to play. No ordinary plebs (like me) will even be able to afford to visit there, let alone play the course! 4) Jobs. On a positive note, it will no doubt be very good for the local economy, not least jobs in the area, so that will be a very good thing – about the only one as far as I can see!!
This Golf Resort may have potential, only as it has dragged on for some 10? years one must be very sceptical.
The only fact I am aware of is that as a taxpayer I have paid for reports on viability etc. but am not allowed to see them, so cannot assess if there is any value, or it is just someone’s fantasy that we have been forced to fund.
Worse still, being fixed on this one idea must have distracted the Council from considering other ideas. I am surprised that over the years this has dragged on there has not been attempts at “proof of concept” or at least making use of the many local golf clubs in some regular national golf event.
The idea of more jobs is good, but what sort of jobs, minimum wage jobs in hotels? What about the loss of jobs at the local golf clubs if this goes ahead?
There is also the issue that it is Green Belt land, much of it owned by the Council, who are obviously looking for any source of money, and have sold off Council GB land in the past.
With reference to Bill Lucas’s concerns, I see from the map that the Municipal course is unaffected by the proposal which is for land adjacent to it.
Living in Scotland I was in St Andrews last weekend where of course the R&A is the big attraction and there are at least ten golf courses to choose from. Even in October the town was full of golf tourists from around the World all busy spending their money in the town. Hotels, cafes, restaurants, golf shops all doing a roaring trade. If Hoylake could achieve even a fraction of this tourism it would potentially treansform the local economy. The key thing is to ensure that visitors are drawn into the town where they can patronise local restaurants, cafes, shops and bars. The location of the hotel and clubhouse will be crucial to achieving this.
I can agree with Peter Wilson’s aspirations, however St Andrews is THE golf course, perhaps in the world and so does attract people from all over the world. Hoylake does have a golf history, but not in the same league, and THE club is arguably The Royal Liverpool, not a new (non links?) course. Surely the way forward is to build golf tourism with the existing clubs. There are also several other major courses in the North West that also host “The Open” and may have a different view of the importance of Hoylake.
Of course it’s true St. Andrews is in a league of its own but Hoylake is the second oldest links in England and has the richest golfing history in England; it could be regarded as England’s St. Andrews. The other courses in St. Andrews are all there because of the association with the original Old Course which like Royal Liverpool is a private members’ club. They bathe in its reflected glory and focus on attracting visitors from across the world and providing huge economic rewards for the local Fife and the wider Scottish economy. Proximity to other courses such as Carnoustie, Gleneagles and Muirfield adds to rather than detracts from their attractiveness to visitors. So being able to play on a cluster of quality courses such as Birkdale, Lytham and the historic Wallasey links courses plus a host of others only adds to the appeal of Hoylake for the visitor.
This looks like an excellent development. It looks like the current municipal is beyond the boundaries of the new course so this excellent James Braid layout will not be affected. This area badly needs inward investment providing jobs for local young people and an economic shot in the arm. Access would be easy, straight from the M53. The roads in this area contrary to popular belief are not too busy except maybe at school times. In fact this part of Wirral including my home town is decaying. During the day Hoylake is a ghost town. Development is needed and this development should be welcomed. Royal Liverpool will not be affected;it is elitist , the fairways are largely empty during the week and a new pay and play course would be good addition bringing people in to the area benefitting the local hotel and service sector.
I have heard from a number of people who are members of Ladies Golf Societies at the Municipal course that it has been sold to the Royal Liverpool Golf Course. I have not been able to verify this, but the ladies concerned [from different societies] were adamant.
Has anyone any further news about this?
Like David Sefton and relating to my earlier comments, I am well in favour of the golf development – providing it does not bring any more traffic into Hoylake. If David thinks that Hoylake is a ghost town during the day, I suggest that he stands in Market Street for 20 minutes and tries to cross the road once or twice (away from the crossing lights) and see whether he thinks it is a “ghost town”. I don’t know where you live David, but if it’s in or near Hoylake, you must only be coming out in the evenings! A ghost town indeed – total rubbish, we cannot take any more traffic in this town, bring the traffic in from the Saughall Road side.
I think you maybe confused about my point, let me clarify. Market St is a busy road but it is through traffic and does not reflect the economy of the town.
Reported to HELP SHOP so I made inquiries.
Checked with Council Officers and Councillors and not true!!!
Chinese Rumours once again!!!