Plans for 250 homes and supermarket on golf course

Plans have been advanced to build 250 homes and a supermarket on a golf course.

Hertsmere borough councillors agreed to redevelop Bushey Golf and Country Club in Hertfordshire at a meeting on Wednesday.

About 60% of the site - which is owned by the council and has not been used as a golf course since 2018 - will be public open space after the redevelopment.

The council plans to contribute £3m towards the cost of a community hub, featuring a supermarket, nursery, community centre, arts centre and car park.

The community centre would also include space for Bushey Museum & Art Gallery as well as a boxing club, cafe, Citizens Advice Bureau, community police office, large multi-use hall, and a soft play area.

The hub will be paid for with a further £4.7m from Community Infrastructure Levy receipts from the site's developers, Hill Group and Griggs Homes.

The remainder of the funding will come from money raised by the sale of the land and other project-related income, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Half of the 250 homes will be classed as affordable.

Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Shenton, cabinet member for finance, said the project had been in the works for eight years under the previous Conservative administration and the current Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition.

"It is high time we moved from good intentions to getting something done," he said.

He pointed out that the council had already spent £1.17m on the former golf course, but only generated £605,000 from the site.

"While we have been considering our options, the cost of building has rocketed."

Shenton said the development would help meet the government's housing target of more than 1,000 new homes a year in Hertsmere.

However Conservative group leader Lynette Sullivan questioned whether there was a "clear evidence-based justification for funding community facilities that should be paid for by those developing this land".

She called for the administration to delay a decision on the project until they could provide further information and "tell us exactly why the additional millions are required".

The Labour leader of the council, Jeremy Newmark, warned that the council "can't avoid difficult decisions" and said "any delay fails local people".

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