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Public meetings about South Gloucestershire’s local plan are expected to take place in spring
A golf club could close to allow for thousands of houses to be built on it, its owners have confirmed.
Woodlands Golf and Country Club, to the north east of Bradley Stoke, Bristol, has two 18-hole courses, but under South Gloucestershire Council’s local plan could become a new “garden village”.
The proposal would see 1,750 homes, a new school and a local centre built, as well as a pedestrian bridge across the M4.
A spokesman for a planning company acting on behalf of the golf club said the owners supported the proposals and, if included in the finalised local plan, at least some of the course would stay open for “likely over a decade”.
As recently as 2023, the golf club denied it would close. One sign at the course read “Woodlands Golf Course has not been sold” and added the owners would continue to invest in the facility.
Two years on, the course has not yet been sold but with owners “supportive” of the housing plans, it would make way for the building work if the local plan was adopted.
Matthew Kendrick, from Grassroots Planning, which is acting on behalf of the golf club, said the owners supported the proposals “as they are aware of the acute need for housing in the area”.
“While in the long run the golf courses [would] close, a development of this scale [would] take many years to complete, therefore it is highly likely that golfing [would] continue here for many years,” he said.
Mr Kendrick said golfers would likely be able to use the site for more than a decade, as a single course could be kept while other areas of the site were developed.
The Woodlands site is bordered by the M5 to the north and the M4 to the west – with Bradley Stoke the other side of the M4
The area’s local plan has been submitted to the government with public meetings expected to take place in spring.
South Gloucestershire Council’s cabinet member for planning, regeneration, and infrastructure, Chris Willmore, said the overall plan was “not perfect”.
“It will mean new development on 2.53% of South Gloucestershire’s existing Green Belt land,” he said.
“In keeping with new government directives, however it protects the vast majority and will help to make sure the area remains an attractive place to live and work for years to come,” he added.
