Powering off the tee at opening

Golfers teed off on Saturday at Ferrybridge Golf Club after the work was carried out by power company SSE.

The company created the new course after announcing the construction of a new fuel plant on the grounds of the old Ferrybridge Golf Club.

The £360m multi-fuel plant will be built over a three-year period at the power station, creating 500 jobs.

SSE paid for golfers at Ferrybridge to transfer their membership to the Mid Yorkshire Golf Club at Darrington while the new course was being built.

The new course, designed by architect Simon Gidman, was officially opened by Jack McKee of the Leeds and District Union of Golf Clubs.

Ferrybridge Golf Club member Neil Richardson said: “It was a fantastic event and everybody was pleased as punch with the new course.”

SSE first drew up plans for the multi-fuel plant in 2009 on land it owns by the power station.

Last June Ferrybridge C power station ceased production after 50 years of operation.

The government granted planning consent last October for the new plant, which will be built next to Ferrybridge Multi-fuel 1 (FM1), a £300m plant which opened last July.

When complete, FM2 will be able to generate around 70MW of electricity, enough to power around 170,000 homes. A new golf club held its official opening after a scenic course was built by the owners of Ferrybridge power station.