Youth football club ‘devastated’ after stray golf ball risk scuppers relocation plan

The risk of wayward golf balls appears to have dashed the chances of a Devon town’s youth football club securing a vital new home.

Supporters of Honiton Town Youth Football club packed the public gallery during an at-times lively meeting as planners debated their bid to relocate to land west of Tower Road.
A central issue rested on the potential risk of golf balls being inadvertently hit onto the football pitch from the existing golf course, which is next to the proposed site.
Planning officers cited national planning rules that suggest it is up to the applicant – as the so-called agent of change – to oversee responsibility for such risks.
But the club refuted that, stating that its own independent legal advice had suggested that even if the football club undertook a ball strike assessment to ascertain the risk of stray golf balls, that was tantamount to them accepting risk for the issue.
In the proverbial on-pitch battle, the club stressed that it had exhausted all other possible options and had concluded only the proposed site was suitable and available.
It added its current facilities were inadequate, with no toilets, changing rooms, or running water, with inadequate access that would prevent spectators in wheelchairs watching their children or grandchildren playing.
The meeting also featured a district councillor brandishing a bag of golf balls he claimed had been retrieved from a different neighbouring field to Honiton Golf Club, and a headteacher, Christopher Tribble, speaking out against criticisms of children missing school to attend the planning meeting.
“I’m devastated,” said John Leisk, the chairman of Honiton Town Youth Football Club, who has worked on the plans for around five years.
Asked if the club would appeal the decision, he said: “We will have to have discussions with our legal team but we owe it to the children and families of the club as we cannot let football in Honiton die.”
Mr Leisk called the decision to refuse the club’s plans “short-sighted”, and stressed that the club’s lease at its existing location had already lapsed and so it was only able to remain there on goodwill.
“There is no plan B,” he stated, adding: “We’re holding over on the current lease and could be asked to leave at any point.”
Speaking after the decision, the planning committee chair, Councillor Eileen Wragg (Liberal Democrat, Exmouth Town), said that because of the element of risk to the public and young people 
“We gave it a lot of thought and there was support for approval but we believed that the risk [presented by potential wayward golf balls] outweighed that,” she said.
Cllr Wragg added that if the committee had approved it, it could have “gone to judicial review which would cost a lot of money”.
“The committee offered to defer the decision until an assessment had been carried out but the football club refused point blank,” she added”
Her deputy, Councillor Steve Hunt (Liberal Democrat, Seaton), said the outcome could have been different if the club agreed to conduct a ball strike assessment.
“I cannot understand [their legal advice] as our legal advice is telling us that the football club is the agent of change.”
Mum Lauren Clarke said the decision “stops our children playing football” in the town as there was no other place for the club to relocate to.
Andrew Lord, who attended the meeting with his 10-year-old son, Jaxon, said he could not see what alternative options were available for the club.
Mr Lord, who also coaches for the club, claimed an assessment of the current risk of wayward golf balls had been carried out by a third-party.
“It’s already deemed a low risk,” he said.
His son, Jaxon, said the club’s current location had obvious drawbacks.
“We don’t have many girls at the club as we don’t have the right toilets and changing rooms for them, and there’s no drinking water supply to the pitch either.
“If we were able to move to a different location, we could have more members, and I was really hoping we would be able to do that.”
Towards the end of the two-hour debate that divided East Devon District Council’s planning committee, a motion was put forward to approve the plans, in spite of officers having recommended refusal.
The proposer, Councillor Colin Brown (Conservative, Dunkeswell and Otterhead), was asked by the council’s solicitor, Damien Hunter, how he would justify such a decision if it was tested at judicial review.
Initially, he refused to budge, stating he had previously lived next to a golf course and never suffered stray golf balls in his garden.
But, when told he needed firmer evidence, he opted to withdraw his suggestion, and then an attempt to defer the decision was also scotched when the club’s Mr Leisk said he could not undertake a ball strike assessment, because his legal advice had warned against it.
That led to the committee deciding to vote in favour of accepting the officer recommendations to refuse the plans, with their reasons largely resting on there being no risk assessment of the potential for golf balls being waywardly hit into the site.
The vote went six in favour of refusal versus four against.