Horsham golf club once under housing threat now goes up for lease

Horsham District Council says it intends ‘to enter into an agreement leading to the grant of a lease for a term of 25 years’ for Rookwood Golf Club and golf course off Robin Hood Lane.

The land is owned by the council and run by the golf club whose current lease expires next year.

The council faced a huge public backlash when proposals were first unveiled at the start of 2020 to build up to 1,100 homes on the golf course with the site then promoted as part of the council’s ‘local plan review process.’

But in 2021 the council revised its proposals several times, reducing the number of homes, redesigning the scheme and promising more green enhancements especially to nearby Warnham Local Nature Reserve.

However, the plans proved fiercely unpopular in the town with a number of organisations speaking out – and an online petition topping 12,000 signatures.

The council eventually backed down and said it was not considering Rookwood for development in the local plan ‘at this time.’

A spokesperson then said that a new consultation would be held and the site looked at in more depth to explore a broader and more varied range of potential leisure and recreational facilities, not just limited to golf.

The council said then that Rookwood had ‘exceptional potential’ to deliver benefits such as rewilding and enhancing the nature reserve and said it was committed to protecting the unique environment there with sustainability, biodiversity and protection of native plants and wildlife.

However the council also said the ‘possibility of much needed affordable homes on part of the site could also be considered in the future’, but the principles of any future proposals would be to enhance the green spaces and to deliver a site for broader community use.

The council now says in a ‘notice of proposed disposal of open space land’ that it intends to grant a 25-year lease of the golf club land ‘which is or may be open space.’

It says representations or objections should be made in writing to the council’s legal department by March 21.

A spokesperson for Horsham District Council said: “The current lease on Rookwood Golf Course is set to expire next year. In advance of this deadline, the council is set to offer a longer lease agreement for 25 years with a view to securing the facility as a golf course for the benefit of the wider community in the future.

"We are legally obliged to advertise in advance in the public arena regarding this lease proposal. The current tenant is aware of this requirement.”