Royal Birkdale Golf course expansion plans approved

Plans to build a new practice area at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport have been approved despite “overwhelming public opposition”.

R&A Championships Limited golf events company has been seeking to extend the practice area ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 2026.

The company proposed making part of the open land linked to Birkdale Common open for golf course use with plans including a hitting tee, new fencing and the diversion a public right of way.

Birkdale resident David Marsden said approving plans established “a very worrying precedent that our public parks are at the disposal of commercial interests”.

Mr Marsden said there was “overwhelming public opposition to this application”.

He added: “R&A has not come close to justifying why it is essential for it to take over part of our public park.

“I would urge the committee not to bow to R&A’s bullying tactics and its ridiculous claim that failure to commence work by September could put the whole Open tournament at risk.”

There was no representative from R&A at the meeting.

Sefton Council’s planning team recommended the proposals should be approved, stating The Open was “a very significant benefit to the borough”.

“The last time it was held here in 2017, it attracted over 230,000 visitors,” the report said.

It said the development would “help to improve the quality of the golf course and ensure that it remains in the position to attract world class events such as The Open”.

The planning team said the space taken “would be less than one hectare while the overall space within the common is in excess of 20 hectares” and the proposal “will include realignment of the public right of way, ensuring continued access to the common”.

The elected members at the subcommittee meeting at Bootle Town Hall on Monday approved the application.