Maidenhead Golf Club vote on move to Fifield falls short of numbers needed

The future of Maidenhead Golf Club is uncertain after its board failed to secure sufficient backing of its plan to move to Fifield.

The Advertiser understands that 72 per cent of members voted to move to the former Biffa landfill site in Fifield Road, which is backed by Brian McGinley, the club’s chairman. It was shy of the 75 per cent needed to back the motion at a vote in the Shoppenhangers Road Holiday Inn on Tuesday evening.

Chris Yates, a Bray parish councillor and club member, opposed the plan to move.

The Oakley Green and Fifield representative reflected that it would have been a ‘disappointing result for McGinley, who tried very hard to persuade everyone that he was right’.

Mr McGinley said a decision on how to proceed would now need to be held.

The club has agreed to surrender its lease on its current site to the Royal Borough for at least £12m, and the course in Shoppenhangers Road will be developed into housing.

While members backed a motion approving the move to Fifield in priniciple, the vote to spend money raised from surrendering the lease, which required 75 per cent approval, failed.

It means the board would need to consider how a move could be funded if it decides to continue with the Fifield plan.

On Monday, Bray parish councillors discussed the planned move with Merv Foulds, who helped find land for a new golf course for the club.

Merv said: “What made this one most suitable was that it had single ownership, we believe it had good access, we believe it’s got access off the A308 but it’s such a bland area for want of a better word that we can build it up rather than stripping it down.

“This was by far and away the best site according to our course designer.”

Fifield resident Robin Howard, non-executive director for Burhill Group Limited, a golf operator, said: “We feel we are inundated with things around us that are going to gridlock the village.”

He added: “We don’t want to stop something as good as this but I cannot see how the residents are going to be able to come to terms with the grid locking of the A308.

“If you thought the Phoenix gym basically made the village alive this is going to electrify it.”