HAS the marketing of Hollingbury Park golf course really been exhausted?

Was there enough time for interested parties to appraise the site and work up a bid?

Was the programme started too late and then rushed by commencing in the holiday season of July/August and inviting bidders to put their case by mid-October?

Was it constrained in any way by its previous link with Waterhall or its demand for a new lease for 25years that had to start on 1 April (you wouldn’t find a retailer today prepared to take on a business lease for 25 years)? 

Whatever the case, many feel that the council owe it to the community (golfers and recreational users alike) not to sacrifice the 100-year-old public access course on the altar of an aggressive wave of environmental activism but to make one final attempt to secure its future. For that reason, the council needs to defer its decision to mothball the course by running it for another 12 months and to spend that time wisely by concentrating on seeking a suitable operator to take it over.  

Yes, it may cost a little, but it would be time limited and their efforts could be well rewarded.

Mothballing in any event has been estimated to cost around £100,000.

Hollingbury Park golf course is a community asset and everything possible should be done to save it.

Stephen Jacques, Eaton Villas, Hove