Dozens of people objected to the proposals for the site
The Kyngs Golf and Country Club is on Station Road in Market Bosworth.(Image: Google)
Plans for a health spa and more than 120 holiday lodges at a disused Leicestershire golf course set for a major revamp have been refused by officials.
The Kyngs Golf and Country Club, off Station Road in Market Bosworth, closed in 2016, but new owner Statue Homes previously announced plans to reopen it. In recent years, the company has been given the go ahead for a number of developments on the site from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC).
But HBBC has refused planning permission for the latest proposals of a leisure and health spa and 126 holiday lodges after officers said the company hadn’t provided further information regarding drainage and ecology.
More than 40 people complained to the council about the proposals, with Market Bosworth Parish Council, Carlton Parish Council and heritage group the Market Bosworth Society also objecting.
“Market Bosworth is already well served with a 100+ bedroom hotel, numerous bed and breakfast establishments and a site for 103 holiday lodges,” one objector said to the council.
Concerns were raised that changes might have been made to the course itself to accommodate the number of lodges. Another objector said: “This would negate the enjoyment of the course and likely membership numbers and casual users, reducing golf course sustainability.”
The Environment Agency had initially objected to the scheme, but later said problems could be dealt with through conditions attached to the application. But Leicestershire County Council, in its capacity as lead local flood authority (LLFA), still has concerns, according to a report by HBBC planning officers.
The report reveals the scheme was refused because the applicant “failed to provide sufficient information” about drainage and the potential ecological impacts, including how it might affect great crested newts in the area.
But planning officers saw benefits to the scheme, saying it would “complement” the other developments approved for the golf club, and that it “is not out of character” for the area.
Statue Homes has previously gained planning permission for a new clubhouse and a 50-bed hotel at the course, as well four holiday lodges and two subterranean lodges.
“The golf lodges are considered to be sited a suitable distance from existing, neighbouring residential properties to ensure that privacy and noise would not be adversely affected by the proposals,” the report added.
The 25,000-square-foot spa building would have included facilities such as a swimming pool, as well as hydrotherapy, training and ice plunge pools, saunas, treatment rooms, a gym, dance studio, health and beauty shops and a “health bar”. The one-and two-bedroom lodges would have been built in the northern part of the club’s land.
The application was refused under delegated authority, which allows planning officers to make decisions on behalf of the council’s planning committee.
Planning documents submitted to the council said the spa and holiday lodges would only have been used by the members of the club, or by people playing the course. The spa was described in the documents as “a building of high quality architecture without drama, complexity nor contradiction”.