Brampton Golf Course, in Tarn Road, was originally designed by the legendary James Braid who also designed the King’s Course and the and the Queen’s Course at Gleneagles as well as remodelling The Open Championship venue at Carnoustie Golf Links.
The news comes after the club got planning permission from Cumberland Council, after an almost two-year wait, to redevelop the clubhouse which will provide: overnight guest accommodation and first floor function room; the installation of PV panels; extensions to a furniture store and plant room; EV parking bays and associated infrastructure.
Club chairman Lionel Dobson said getting planning permission was good news for the golf club which employs up to 25 people and has in the region of 600 members.
He said: “It’s always part of our longer-term plan to have the planning and the ability to expand the club further. It has taken a bit longer than we had planned for, which will mean we will do the work in stages.”
Mr Dobson said it was not known how long the project would take to complete and added: “That is going to be dependent upon funding and costs because costs have increased over the last few years. And so, I can’t put a timeframe on that, but we will certainly upgrade the facilities within the next six to nine months.”
The club’s operations manager, Jamie Miles, agreed that getting the planning permission was a good thing for the club and added: “Because it backs up our ambitions to continually keep moving forward, to keep upgrading the facilities that we have here, and to essentially make the member and visitor experience better in which way we can.”
He said the different phases of the project included the conversion or the upgrading of the Lloyd Lounge, which is a secondary room that they wanted to utilise more.
He added: “It is also include the upgrading of the existing facilities, including the gents locker room, showers, toilets, and the ladies locker room as well.”
Mr Miles said that getting the planning permission meant they had the backing of the council and they were on the right track, their ambition could be realised and be realistic.
He added: “It means a lot that the work that’s gone into it, whilst might not necessarily mean a lot of these phases will be done straight away, it means that the work has gone into it. We know that, down the line, we have got the ability to continue to upgrade our facilities.”
And he said they had an ‘ongoing commitment’ to keep investing in the course as well, which was not detailed in the planning application, and added: “It is something that we are keen to remind members, that we’re keen to reinforce, that the clubhouse only still plays a small part in our business.
“You know, golf is our core business here, and, you know, continuing to invest in the course is a priority, and aspects of this investment in the clubhouse will also help us to solidify revenue streams in the clubhouse which, in time, will also help to generate more money to reinvest back in the course as well.
“I think that we’ve shown in the short term, even just this last year, that the investment that we’ve made in the golf shop, taking that in-house, we’ve got a state-of-the-art golf simulator that can be used by our teaching pros as well, Simon Kerr and Matty Lamb, to give lessons.
“We can custom fit the latest and the best equipment available. So, that again is another example of how we have improved our facilities, improved our offerings to members and visitors alike and that’s the way that we want to continue to do so in the future as well.”
According to the application form the application site covers an area of 1897 square metres and its current use was described as a golf club.
It was proposed that the walls would remain as brick and render and the tile roof would be a lead roll roof effect.
In addition, the plans proposed 30 extra car parking spaces bring the total to 123 spaces.
The development would increase the internal floorspace by 164 square metres bringing the total from 801 square metres to 965 square metres.
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The above application can be viewed at www.cumberland.gov.uk any representations should be submitted via the website or in writing to the Assistant Director, Thriving Places, Cumberland Council, Planning Civic Centre, Carlisle, CA3 8QG.