Golf club agrees to land sale

The controversial sale of more than six hectares of prime New Plymouth coastal land for luxury residential subdivision is to go ahead.

A special meeting of the New Plymouth Golf Club this week voted in favour of selling two adjoining blocks of land off the northern end of the Ngamotu links to the developers of The Links subdivision near Bell Block.

The land includes a section of Hickford Park given to the golf club in 2008 as part of a land swap to allow the extension of New Plymouth's coastal walkway. The two sections total 6.19 hectares in area, and will net the golf club $1.5 million.

Ever since the golf club's board signed a conditional sale agreement with The Links late last year, the proposal has been embroiled in controversy, with some club members claiming the land was being sold too cheaply.

Then, last week a breakaway group of club members came up with the idea of carving off part of the existing golf course for subdivision, and replacing the holes by developing the coastal land into part of the course.

But all this debate and counter-proposal came to nothing at this week's special general meeting, when 68 per cent of the more than 170 members present voted in favour of the land sale.

Club spokesman Paul Fitzgibbons said the better than two-to-one vote in favour of the sale proved there was heavy overall support for the proposal.

The Links spokesman Peter Snowden said he was pleased the golf club had gone through a robust internal process of information and debate that had culminated in the decision to sell.

"It's going to be a win-win situation for the club. We'll now be putting a project team together to work through planning issues, and we should have clarity within the next six months regarding what will happen there."

Mr Snowden promised the land would be subject to a "soft" residential development that would have proper regard to the area.

"The land has massive potential for residential use, but it does have the same zoning as parkland.

"So we will have to have a soft footprint on the land rather than a lot of sections. We expect the development will involve 12 to 15 sites."

- © Fairfax NZ News