I agree entirely. Monocultures they are and yes, too many of them. Turn them into housing with community facilities, a few good tennis courts, a play park for kids, a few shops for the essentials and maybe the odd school, and lots of trees (they have community value ) with perhaps some allotments to get people outside and productive, helping mental health as well.
Rather than push to crank up the population density, how about better amenities for the existing population? For example, there is a woeful lack of sports centres capable of hosting matches with visiting teams and individuals for any number of sports.
I *think* this would need a national policy change too. Although probably not if courses were specifically allocated for development, rather than having a list of requirements that would make them suitable.
I’ve written previously about planning policy and golf courses here:
Yes to this. Malcolm Gladwell made a similar case in a podcast about the extravagant waste of land for golf in Los Angeles.
I agree entirely. Monocultures they are and yes, too many of them. Turn them into housing with community facilities, a few good tennis courts, a play park for kids, a few shops for the essentials and maybe the odd school, and lots of trees (they have community value ) with perhaps some allotments to get people outside and productive, helping mental health as well.
Rather than push to crank up the population density, how about better amenities for the existing population? For example, there is a woeful lack of sports centres capable of hosting matches with visiting teams and individuals for any number of sports.
I *think* this would need a national policy change too. Although probably not if courses were specifically allocated for development, rather than having a list of requirements that would make them suitable.
I’ve written previously about planning policy and golf courses here:
https://www.strategiclandgroup.co.uk/insights/how-easy-is-it-to-build-new-homes-on-a-golf-course
Have you ever played golf ???