Another article of interest - Woods battle bunkers golf plan

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

Woods battle bunkers golf plan

210 words
23 April 2005
Scottish Daily Record
13
English
(c) 2005 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd

A JUDGE yesterday bunkered plans for a £10million golf complex.

Thousands of trees faced the chop on the Duke of Hamilton"s land in East Lothian to make way for a course laid out by American Tom Doak.

But the Forestry Commission won a court order giving 87 acres of trees a stay of execution.

Developers had already felled 1600 of the 31,000 trees at Archerfield before the Court of Session"s decision yesterday.

But the commission say they need a licence. And judge Lord Hardie said: "The loss to the environment outweighs the economic loss to the developers."

The delay, until local planners scrutinise the scheme, may mean the course does not open as scheduled in spring 2007. That could cost developers hundreds of thousands of poundsEstate managers Hamilton and Kinneil teamed up with a US firm to create the course, which includes players" lodges.

East Lothian Council have already granted outline planning permission.

Nobody at Hamilton and Kinneil responded to calls for comment yesterday.

The Duke of Hamilton"s wife Kay said: "He has no direct involvement with the golf course development."

A Forestry Commission spokesman said: "We"re pleased the court granted an interim interdict to prevent further unlawful felling

[Jim Bearden]

Considering that in the opening battle scene for Gladiator they actually burned down the entire forest this sounds pretty silly.

[danielfaleman]

Felling 31,000 trees?

Crossing a line here...

[Eric Pevoto]

The article says there are 31,000 trees at Archerfield.  No mention of how many were to be taken out.  

How long has this project been in the works?  Over what span of time were the 1600 trees taken down?

These types of things are no joke.  To the general public, they cast a very poor light for golf.  Notice no one is talking.

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

Eric,

Couldn't agree more with your last statement.  I'd love to hear Tom's thoughts on this... how many trees were required to be cut down for the routing vs. clearing trees for development of the complex and/or enhancing sightlines?

[David_Tepper]

Gentlemen-

I have brought up the Archerfield post, which should give you some background on the tree cutting/clearing issues regarding this project.

DT  

[Dan Kelly]

These types of things are no joke.  To the general public, they cast a very poor light for golf.  Notice no one is talking.

I'll talk -- not to say anything about this specific case, about which I know nothing, but merely to ask ... a serious question, not a rhetorical one:

Why should those of us who are not in the golf business care one whit what the "general public" thinks of the game?

[Eric Pevoto]

Dan,

I was thinking more along the lines of the principals' silence.  

That's really a good question.  Why should golfers care what non-golfers think about golf and the golf business?

Is it just developers and those in the business who are best served by good relations between golf and environmentalists?  

I don't think so.  One example:  Excessive environmental considerations and planning/permitting can add costs which are passed on to the golfer.  Often these concerns come from non-golfers with a lack of understanding.

Great question.  I'll have to give it more thought.

In this specific case, if it's truly a problem of over-building, are the other golf clubs speaking up?  

[johnk]

All I can say is THANK GOD the Duke of Hamilton has no involvement here!  Ran into him once, waiting on line in Anstruther for some chips.  Nasty chap, really.  


I can't wait to get to the Scotland in a few days, as you can see...