Golf club wins battle over 'unauthorised' greenbelt car park near Burnham Beeches

A Government planning inspector has ruled that a golf club car park built without permission on greenbelt land in Burnham can remain in place.

Burnham Beeches Golf Club had been served an enforcement notice by Buckinghamshire Council, which demanded a new 15-space car park built near the clubhouse be removed.

But an inspector has now overturned that decision and, subject to a string of conditions, said that the controversial car park can stay. 

The battle for greenbelt land began when Buckinghamshire Council launched an investigation into an ‘unauthorised development’ at the club in 2023.

Enforcement action demanding the car park be removed was served in 2024, after the council turned down a retrospective bid for planning permission from the club.

In a letter to the club, Buckinghamshire Council officers ordered the car park’s tarmac and kerbstones be ‘ripped up’ and the land re-seeded with grass.

‘An established enclave of trees and shrubs’ deemed ‘key to the rural character and appearance’ of the area had been lost because of the car park, the letter said.

The ‘prominent’ tarmacked site now exposed by the loss of greenery, it added, had ‘eroded the verdant and rural character of the site and the wider area’.

The club sought an appeal against the local authority’s decision to the Government Planning Inspectorate – an organisation that decides on development disputes.

A statement from Solve Planning consultants, written on behalf of the club, argued the new car park was needed due to a growth in club membership.

Changes in national planning policies meant ‘a car park associated with outdoor recreation should be considered appropriate development in the greenbelt,’ the statement claimed.

It added an agreement could be reached with the council for replacement planting to compensate for the lost trees.

In a decision notice, inspector G Sibley agreed the car park had impacted ‘the visual and spatial openness of the greenbelt’ but it did not constitute ‘inappropriate development’.

“Given the modest size of the car park extension and its location central to the main golf club development, the additional development does not appear prominent within the local landscape,” the inspector said.

“It does not significantly urbanise the development associated with the golf club, or appear out of character with the area.”

Greenbelt land has special protections that forbid development within it unless it can be proved to meet a test of very special circumstances.

The inspector said: “Overall, the development affects both the visual and spatial openness of the Green Belt.

“However, this could be said for many new ‘appropriate’ facilities for outdoor sport in the greenbelt.”

Overturning the council’s refusal, the inspector added four conditions which the club would have to comply with or risk being ordered to remove the car park again.

These included that a landscaping plan and an ecology management plan are submitted to Buckinghamshire Council within three months.

Burnham Beeches Golf Club, located next to the historic Burnham Beeches forest, was founded in 1891 and has an 18-hole course.