ARMSTRONG RIGG PLANNING
Site: Aldeburgh Golf Club, Saxmundham Road, Aldeburgh
Client: Aldeburgh Golf Club
ARP have worked over many years with Aldeburgh Golf Club to secure permissions for extensions to the Clubhouse, the provision of 2no. homes on Club owned land in the vicinity of the Championship Course and representing their interests to emerging planning policy documents and major energy infrastructure proposals.
We have also worked closely with them, their pre-eminent golf course architects, Mackenzie and Ebert, and East Suffolk Council Officers on an exciting project to extend the Championship Course, with the introduction of 3no. new golf holes at its’ northern edge.
Occupying a prominent position at the entrance to Aldeburgh in the Suffolk Coastal and Heaths National Landscape, ARP advised on planning strategy and coordinated the requisite teams including arboricultural, ecological, landscape experts and course architects.
The application brought forward a sensitive design, which it was accepted would conserve the special landscape characteristics of the National Landscape. Important to the planning case was explaining the need to take existing holes close to Saxmundham Road out of commission, for safety reasons, and replace these with new championship standard holes which both increased the length and challenge of the course.
This was necessary to ensure that the course continued to maintain its position as the highest rated golf course in the region, ranked comfortably within the top 100 courses in the country. In turn the status and enduring challenge of the course was important in maintaining its ability to host national and international competitions and attract golf tourists important to the overall appeal of Aldeburgh as a visitor destination.
A further factor of importance was confirming that the new holes could be accommodated with compensatory measures undertaken elsewhere on the golf estate to ensure a net gain would be achieved in acid grassland habitat (a UK Priority habitat), with Natural England confirming they had no objection to the proposals.
Ultimately East Suffolk Council officers were satisfied on all aspects of the application such that it was approved under delegated powers.
