A Golf dirt road scar will be left across Birkdale Common
A sizable stony scar right across Birkdale Common looks set to stay, a councillor has discovered. Among the small print of a planing application associated with the recent Open Golf Tournament at Royal Birkdale is permission to leave the main dirt roadway from Waterloo Road to the golf course boundary – while smaller similar roadways on the common are ‘restored’.
West Birkdale local Councillor Tony Dawson says:
“Permission is one thing, but the question left egging is ‘who wants this scar left here on Birkdale’s main recreational greenspace for years on end?’ As far as I can ascertain, no one in Southport or Birkdale was ever asked whether they want this. The only people who even got to know were a handful of residents living close by. So, Alan Hansen has a right to a view but not the common people who use this area week in, week out.”
“Apparently the Council’s ‘Investment and Employment section’ were aware of the proposals and as far as the Council is concerned, that is good enough. The views of the people of Southport and their elected representatives are not even worth asking for, let alone taking any notice of.
As for the decision itself, not a single councillor, even a Cabinet Member, appears to have even touched it.
The march of Bootle bureaucracy tramps on across our town.”
“The Council spokesperson is “satisfied that members of the public were aware of the proposed development which they reckon is ‘policy compliant’ whatever that means.
Personally, I think this ‘green lung’ of Birkdale is having this dirt roadway left is an unnecessary ‘scar’ on a nice patch of recreational common land.