Golf club reviews options after expansion rebuff

A golf club that has hosted some of the sport's top players has said it will review its options after an expansion plan was rejected by councillors.

The Centurion Club wanted to add another 10 holes to the course near Hemel Hempstead, by removing about 1,000 trees.

St Albans City and District councillors on the development management committee went against a recommendation to refer the application to the Secretary of State, and grant conditional planning permission if it was not called in.

Malcolm Hull, chair of Hertfordshire and Middlesex Butterfly Conservation, said: "This is a good decision which avoids the destruction of one of the most valuable butterfly woods in the county."

In 2022, the Hertfordshire club hosted the LIV golf tournament which involved some of the sport's top players.

Michael Duffy, general manager of the Centurion Club, said: "We are disappointed and will review our options going forward."

During a public consultation, the council received 466 objections to the plans and 261 were in support.

They highlighted the loss of public access, impact on traffic, lack of detail about the number of trees being removed and impact on the White Admiral butterfly population.

Hull told the committee on 8 June that the White Admiral was "one of our rarest and most beautiful butterflies in Hertfordshire, surviving in a few large woodlands".

"White Admiral requires old woods containing areas of shaded straggly honeysuckle," he added.

"The proposal would destroy all its good breeding areas in this wood.

"White Admiral is exactly the sort of rare species which the planning system is supposed to protect. So why is this proposal being recommended?"

Scott Evans, managing director of the Centurion Club, told the meeting: "We've changed the plan to accommodate all the sensitive areas and preserve many of the mature trees and the mature beech woodland that's there.

"We're committed to making this one of the best golf courses not only in the local area, but around the world. And that commitment doesn't just stop at golf, that's environmentally as well."

Hull said the club had claimed "publicly the insects were not present in the wood, despite years of well documented records".

"This scheme was just in the wrong place," he added.

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