Newbury and Crookham Golf Club has major clubhouse redevelopment plans turned down by West Berkshire Council

Major plans to build on a Newbury golf course—which include redeveloping the clubhouse and building 31 houses—are hanging in the balance after the first of two planning applications was refused by planners.

Newbury and Crookham Golf Club in Burys Bank Road submitted the dual planning applications in June 2022 in the hopes that it would be able to complete the large-scale project in time for its 150-year anniversary the following year.

However the club—which is the seventh oldest in England—had its proposal to redevelop the clubhouse turned down by West Berkshire Council last week.

The decision on the second application, which is to build 18 three-bed units, 12 four-bed units and one five-bed unit on a patch of land next to the 14th and 15th holes on the golf course, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Newbury and Crookham Golf Club declined to comment on the initial refusal, instead opting to issue a statement once both planning applications have been decided on.

West Berkshire planners refused the clubhouse proposal because it deemed the surface water drainage strategy to be “poor”, it stated that “a significant number of important trees” would be destroyed and it would also impact a local population of great crested newts, a protected species.

Newbury and Crookham hoped to use the money raised by the 31-house residential development to fund the clubhouse redevelopment, a project that the club’s management committee deemed was necessary to secure the club’s future after surveys into the building’s condition and running costs were carried out in 2017.