Sadiq Khan considers concreting over London's golf courses

Telegraph

09-05-2025

Sir Sadiq Khan is considering concreting over some of London's golf courses.
The Mayor of London announced plans on Friday to use more of the capital's green spaces for housing.
A consultation on the city's development strategy for the next two decades suggested some golf courses could be open for development.
The document said golf courses that were 'not accessible to the wider public and have limited biodiversity value' could be considered for new housing.
It suggested that such courses could be released from their protected designation as Metropolitan Open Land (MOL).
'The mayor will continue to give protection to MOL given its vital role for Londoners and providing a liveable city as London grows,' the document said.
'However, some areas of MOL, such as certain golf courses, are not accessible to the wider public and have limited biodiversity value. This undermines the purpose of the designation.
'These areas could be assessed to understand whether they should be released from MOL.
'They may be able to help to meet London's housing and accessible open space provision ... At the same time, they could improve biodiversity through landscape-led redevelopment. Clearly there are key issues to explore.'
The move comes as part of a wider push by Sir Sadiq for parts of the green belt that are 'low-quality land, poorly maintained and rarely enjoyed by Londoners' to be used as housing.
It represents an about-turn in his stance, having staunchly opposed green belt development in previous years in favour of construction on brownfield sites.
However, the change of heart comes as he scrambles to hit his target of building 88,000 homes in the capital per year. His existing plan is only delivering about 40,000.
The mayor said in a speech in Greenwich, south-east London, on Friday: 'Development on carefully chosen parts of the green belt – done in the right way – would allow us to unlock hundreds of thousands of good-quality new homes for Londoners.
'This would not only go a long way to ending the housing crisis but provide a huge boost to our economy.'
An England Golf spokesman said: 'Analysis shows that a high percentage of golfers are reliant on the sport for their physical activity in comparison to other sports, especially in densely populated areas.
'Given where the typical council-owned golf facility is located, this means that for some people, these sites provide them with their only opportunity to remain active.
'England Golf will always work closely with local authorities when the loss of any golf provision is proposed and expect to be consulted throughout any planning process where golf is impacted.
'Utilising robust supply and demand assessments to understand both the mixture of provision and volume of play within a facility's catchment enables us to ensure that those which are needed remain protected, or that appropriate mitigation to compensate for loss is secured.'