Cabinet To Debate Options For Improving Leisure Facilities
Bexley's Cabinet is set to discuss a possible role for outside investors in
helping to improve leisure facilities in Barnehurst and Crayford.
At its meeting on 19 March, the Cabinet will consider whether to invite private
leisure operators to submit plans for improving the existing facilities at
Barnehurst golf course. The Council hopes that the private sector may be able
to inject much-needed new investment into the site, to help provide a wider
range of leisure opportunities for families in the area and to pay for improvements
to the golf course.
"We are keen to test the market, although we are committed to maintaining
the green and open nature of the site," explained Cllr
Peter Catterall,
the Council's Cabinet member for Leisure, Arts & Tourism. "The current
facilities are in need of improvement. We hope that a company with experience
in the leisure sector can ensure that a good quality golf course continues
to be available to the public on the site, along with new leisure activities
that have broad appeal to families and people of every age group.
"We want to establish whether we can find a partner who shares our vision
of improving leisure facilities in the area," explains Cllr Catterall. "We
are not interested in any uses other than leisure on the site, but there is
a lot that could be done with the benefit of outside investment.
"Our aim is to provide new facilities that will encourage more people
to take up active and healthy lifestyles and provide young people in particular
with more and better ways to spend their leisure time, but the market will
decide whether this is realistic."
The Council also hopes that there may be the opportunity to reconfigure the
site and relocate the access to the golf course further away from residents'
homes.
Meetings have been held with staff and users of the golf course and an information
leaflet about the Council's plans has been delivered to local residents around
the site.
The market testing exercise is expected to take around six months. No decisions
will be taken until the results are known. Any changes to the site will be
subject to full public consultation and the usual planning process.
