Campaign group hatches plan to try and buy Maidenhead Golf Course for the community

The community will be given the right to bid for Maidenhead Golf Course before it is sold to developers now it has been designated as an Asset of Community Value.

When something becomes an Asset of Community Value, if its owner decides to sell, they must give eligible local organisations or groups a chance to bid on the asset before selling it to others.

After learning about the potential of the ACV process, Maidenhead Great Park campaign group made an application to RBWM for the golf course land – which has now been approved.

However, the council is under no legal obligation to accept a community bid, and campaigners acknowledge it will be ‘no easy task’ to raise the huge sums needed to challenge CALA Homes for the land.

According to latest figures, RBWM expects to receive about £105million for it.

The ACV process, which was introduced in the Localism Act 2011, was successfully used by campaigners who launched a bid to bring The Craufurd Arms pub into community ownership.

To get this approval, the Maidenhead Great Park group had to submit evidence to prove the course is currently/was recently used to further the social wellbeing of the community – and could continue to do so.

Despite the fact that the golf course seems to meet these criteria, the campaign group was ‘slightly gobsmacked that the designation went through’ because of the complications surrounding the site.

In July, the council’s cabinet member for planning said it was ’all but impossible’ to get out of the golf club deal without incurring crippling penalties.

Moreover, it paid surrender money to Maidenhead Golf Club to move off the land early in September – and the club is in the process of merging with Flackwell Heath and moving there.

Simon Werner, leader of the council, explained that there is no recourse for the borough to prevent something from being approved as an ACV if the application ticks the necessary boxes.

Effectively, it only means that before the land is sold, the community group has six months to put in an offer, he said.

Even with the site’s designation as an ACV, there is a mountain to climb in terms of raising the money needed to buy the land.

However, Tina Quadrino, chair of the Maidenhead Great Park group, says the amount that the community would have to cough up is one of many unknowns at this time.

“We’re under no illusions this is going to be an easy task,” she said. “But I hope the community will see that there are still options.

“The people of Maidenhead have demonstrated their generosity thus far and we know lots of people really want to keep this as a community space.”

There are ‘all sorts of different mechanisms’ for generating funds, Tina added, such as funding from bodies that help with environmental causes.

As for what the land would be used for, ‘it could be anything,’ Tina said.

“I want to get everyone to think outside the box, let your imaginations run wild,” she said.

Despite the ACV designation, Maidenhead Golf Club will continue to go forward with its plan to merge with Flackwell Heath.

Paul Louden, club chairman, said its ‘first choice has always been Maidenhead’ – but when the time came to make a decision, the club believed it did not have any option but to move off the course.

No matter the uphill climb, the Great Park campaign group is feeling optimistic for the future. For the first time since it began its campaign ‘local people are now in the driver’s seat,’ said Tina.

The group is planning to hold a community consultation on February 22 (10am to 4pm) at Larchfield Community Centre for residents to share their thoughts on the best of use of the golf course land.

Then the group will seek professional advice on the cost and practicality of those ideas.