Levelling of golf course by council ‘waste of money’

Spending £9,000 returning a popular Ryde golf course to parkland was this week branded an expensive waste of money.

Diggers moved in this week to Appley Pitch and Putt course, levelling greens and ripping out irrigation systems and land drainage.

The Isle of Wight Council, which failed to find an operator to take over the attraction after closing it last year, said it was restoring parts of historic Appley Park in Ryde to its original landscape look.

Appley Park was designed by Humphry Repton in 1798 and has had a variety of uses over the years, latterly as a council golf course.

The council says the work will make the area more accessible as a public open space 'and improve its use by a wider group of people than before'.

But a Lib Dem opponent of the Tory administration's decision branded the spending 'a waste of time and money'.

Ward councillor Dave Knowles, who is also mayor of Ryde, said: "I only learned a week ago of this plan. There was absolutely no consultation and I have received lots of e-mails from people wanting to know what the heck is going on.

"Not only does the work destroy any possibility of the popular attraction re-opening, what does it achieve?

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