Exciting plans for a golf course in Wokingham which involve building a new hotel have been approved despite fears over trees being chopped down.

Following a decision by Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee, Sand Martins Golf Club in Wokingham can now build a 39-bedroom hotel and and venue for weddings and other special events.

This hotel and venue will have a bar and breakfast room once built.

The club’s plans also included building an extension to its existing clubhouse, so a restaurant can be built in it.

Bracknell News: A CGI of what the hotel and venue building at Sand Martins Golf Club will look like once built. Credit: Lewandowski ArchitectsA CGI of what the hotel and venue building at Sand Martins Golf Club will look like once built. Credit: Lewandowski Architects

The planning agent for the club, Peter Edwards, said a new high quality restaurant will be accessible to members of the public, rather than being exclusively for club members.

But councillors raised fears over the loss of trees and bushes on the golf course to make way for the new development.

The arboricultural implications report submitted with the plan states that, of the 189 individual trees on the site 58 will be cut down.  There are also 41 groups of trees on the site. Of these, six groups will be fully cut down and a further 10 will be partially cut down.

Councillors  Angus Ross (Conservative, Wokingham Without)  the vice chair of the committee and Gary Cowan (Independent, Arborfield)  expressed concern over the amount of trees lost, and questioned whether the trees could be replaced with others elsewhere on the site.

However, planning officer Mark Croucher said it would be ‘unreasonable’ to introduce a condition demanding that a specific number of trees be planted to replace those cut down.

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In the end, Cllr Stephen Conway (Liberal Democrat, Twyford) proposed an informative asking the developers to replace the cut down trees with similar tree cover to what was there originally, which was carried.

The plan for the hotel was unanimously approved. Cllr Cowan did not get a vote because he was attending the meeting virtually. The meeting was held yesterday (August 11).

You can see how the meeting unfolded in the tweet thread below: 

An earlier plan for the redevelopment of the golf club would’ve seen a 51 room hotel and a new health club and spa to be built, but the application was withdrawn in January 2020 because it was considered to be an overdevelopment.