By Martin Walker
A decision on whether to allow ambitious plans to redevelop Woodham Golf Club with a superb £32.1m makeover is expected to be made within days.
Proposals to build a luxury hotel and executive housing development at Woodham will go before Durham County Council’s planning committee a week on Tuesday (March 6).
And despite facing opposition from Friends of Woodham, the developer expects a positive outcome.
Jamie Murphy, managing director of Washington Developments, told Aycliffe Today: “More than five years of planning and about £1m has already been invested in these plans.
“We’ve been working closely with the council for a long time and we’re looking forward to meeting with the planning committee, and look forward to a positive outcome.”
Washington Developments, an Irish firm, submitted an application calling for a £32.1m to redevelop the course, including improvements to the course, construction of 50 executive homes, a 75-bed four-star hotel and spa, and traffic calming and landscaping.
This was after an earlier £100m proposal – to build a 120-bed luxury hotel and 148 homes on the centre of the course, unveiled in 2007 – was submitted but later withdrawn.
The developer says the fresh plans would create 150 jobs in construction and a further 70 permanent posts, and will create £1.6m a year in tourism, while residents would spend an estimated £736,000 a year in the local economy, they claim.
Critics have described the proposals as environmental vandalism and the campaign group, Friends of Woodham, has pledged to fight them.
