Rustington Golf Centre pitches in with major hotel/leisure plan

A 63-bedroom hotel, pub-restaurant, nine five-a-side football pitches, nursery and indoor trampoline/laser tag centre are proposed by Rustington Golf Centre alongside the A259.

Plans for the leisure hub have been submitted to Arun District Council and say that 14 full-time and 28 part-time jobs would be provided by the scheme.

Most of the site, to the north of the dual carriageway and opposite the new Chandlers BMW complex now under construction, is currently used as the golf centre’s three-hole academy course, a practice facility. The nursery would be located elsewhere, to the north-east of the centre.

Rustington Golf Centre would be making a ‘substantial investment’ in the scheme, according to a statement accompanying the planning application.

It adds: “The proposals, once completed, would result in a unique leisure hub, which would be a major attraction for local people and tourists/visitors and provide significant economic benefits for the whole area.

“The attraction of additional visitors will have spin-offs for other local businesses. The leisure facilities would also promote healthy lifestyles.”

It’s a quarter of a century since the Langmead family first started developing the golf centre, with the main building and driving range opened in 1993 and the nine-hole course a year later. Since then, the professional’s shop has been expanded, a health club, now run by Virgin Active, has been added and two years ago the Out of Bounds family activity centre was launched.

In the statement, the golf centre’s planning consultant says the aim of the new development would be to ‘create a high quality contemporary design which will complement the existing buildings and facilities, while minimising the impact on the character of the site’.

Setting the new buildings back from the site boundaries, adding landscaping and planting trees to screen them should mitigate the change in the character and open appearance of the area, the consultant claims.

The scheme also includes a kiosk to the north-east of the main site for a future ‘forest adventure’ proposal.