Meeting to discuss buying historic golf house as part of Wakefield traveller site extension plan will now be held in public

Senior councillors will consider a proposal to purchase the Old Golf House, on Heath Common, at a Cabinet meeting on July 19.

The local authority said on Monday (July 4) that a report into the plan had been withdrawn “to enable the Leader and Cabinet Member to take further advice.”

Glynn Humphries, Wakefield Council’s Corporate Director for Communities, Environment and Climate Change, said today: “The Leader and Cabinet Member have asked for further information to be included in the report, which will now go to Cabinet on July 19 and be discussed in public.”

The report will be published on July 11 and will be available to the public on the Council’s website.

The Old Golf House stands close to the site of a proposed extension to an existing gypsy and traveller site off Doncaster Road.

Wakefield Council has already backed a plan to extend the city’s largest publicly-run traveller site to cater for growing demand.

Heath Common could be extended to 61 permanent pitches, up from its current number of 38, at a cost of £5.8m.

Warmfield-cum-Heath Parish Council object to a new traveller site “in the strongest possible terms.”

A spokesperson for the parish council said: “The existing site has been part of our community for over 50 years and, under the management of Wakefield Council, the residents have brought numerous benefits to the area and are a stable part of the community.

“Through dialogue with both the residents of the existing site and the local community, it is evident that another site is not wanted and, indeed, could disrupt a now settled community.”

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The leader of Wakefield Council, Denise Jeffery, has previously acknowledged there is opposition to the plan from local residents, but the authority says it is legally obliged to accommodate travelling families.

Speaking at the meeting in January last year Coun Jeffery said: “I have had a number of letters about this. I hope people appreciate this is something we have to do.

“I know it’s difficult for people – they don’t want it in their area, but we’ve been talking about this for sometime and I agree we need to move forward to the next stage in the process.”

Heath Common was the original home of Wakefield Golf Club, which opened in 1892.

The clubhouse building opened in October 1897.

The opening was marked by an exhibition match featuring Harry Vardon, who won The Open Championship on six occasions.

Wakefield Golf Club relocated to Woodthorpe in 1911 but the original clubhouse remains as a residential property.