{"id":580351,"date":"2025-11-19T11:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T11:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580351\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T11:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T11:59:16","slug":"mini-golf-ruled-out-for-the-downs-but-10k-race-and-inflatable-obstacle-course-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580351\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini golf ruled out for the Downs but 10k race and inflatable obstacle course planned"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proposed mini golf course would have been set up behind the water tower\"AnyoneA mini golf course could have sparked a legal challenge(Image: Ben Birchall\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

A mini golf course and padel courts for the Downs have been ruled out due to the limits of a Victorian law. Last year plans were revealed to set up a mini golf course<\/a> and padel courts in part of a drive to get more income to help pay for the upkeep of the area.<\/p>\n

But the Downs Act of 1861 prevents anything \u201cenclosing\u201d part of the parkland. While these two ideas have been scrapped, other proposals have now been put forward \u2014 including a new 10k race and an inflatable obstacle course too.<\/p>\n

The inflatable obstacle course would be set up in May next year, and the 10k run would be held in October. Their potential locations are not yet known. The Downs committee faced questions about the mini golf on Monday, November 17.<\/p>\n

Conservative Councillor Henry Michallat, lord mayor and the chair of the committee, said: \u201cIn light of some issues that might crop up with the legalities of the mini golf proposal, it\u2019s the current position that the Downs committee is not going to progress with the mini golf proposal at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Freed, a Merchant Venturer, added: \u201cIt will not be going ahead, full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mini golf course would have been set up behind the water tower. Its operator would have helped maintain the public toilets there. Another potential option next year is for Forwards Festival to host a concert on the Friday night before the festival, on August 28. The Feast On food festival is also hoping to hold concerts on an extra weekend next summer.<\/p>\n

Susan Carter, from the Downs for People campaign, said: \u201cThat\u2019s good news. The same thing happened with the padel court proposals that we spent time on explaining that you cannot enclose the Downs. That\u2019s the nub of this. The Downs Act says you cannot enclose the Downs and the only exception is for ornamental purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the campaigner previously warned the Downs committee that a mini golf course could spark a legal challenge<\/a>. She said if the course were enclosed, this would be unlawful under the Victorian law, and a challenge would be \u201cvery expensive\u201d to fight in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The proposed mini golf course would have been set up behind the water towerA mini golf course could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[3893,18959,2826,79,15125,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-580351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-bristol-city-council","9":"tag-clifton","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-things-to-do-in-bristol","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115576254702628001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}