Golfers have pledged to ‘fight’ against the destruction of their club and loss of jobs amid potential plans for hundreds of new homes in Mapperley
The campaign to protect the “jewel in the crown” Mapperley Golf Club from being used to hit council housing targets has been building momentum in recent months.
Gedling Borough Council is currently consulting on its draft local development plan, which has identified key plots of land and areas across the borough that could be used to accommodate 6,045 homes by 2043 to ensure housing targets are met.
This includes parts of Gedling’s swathes of countryside, along with the edges of villages such as Calverton and Ravenshead, but one spot contained in the plan is the 127-year-old, 18-hole golf club, in which the council owns the land and outlines it as a site where up to 750 homes could be built on.
None of the sites within the plan are confirmed for housing at this stage, but the council’s six-week consultation is nearly half way through, due to close on August 3, and is a channel where residents can share their thoughts on the plan.
Club members held a public meeting on Wednesday (June 8), open to residents and members, to give an update on where they’re at with their campaign.
Speaking on Wednesday, Callum Fern, 32, Head Professional at the club, said: “This is our time to actually be heard.
“So through the council website, we’ve got QR codes and stuff on social media – it’s really simple but we just need people to have five minutes out of their day to voice their opinions and fight against the proposal.”
Speaking on the prospect of losing the space, Mr Fern said “I’ll lose my job.
“Everyone else here will lose their job, there’s not much of a plan if it does go ahead, unfortunately.
“It’s just sad really, I feel there’s plenty of other areas that could be used for housing, this is a space that’s used on a daily basis all year round, not just the golf course but the club house.
“It’s socially brilliant, especially for the elderly… they don’t even [always] play a full round, it can be nine holes, but they get to have a coffee and a bit of breakfast with a friend and it’ll be the only time they see someone all week. It’s not just the golf side, it’s more than that, it’s the community as well.”
Alan Pickard, former club captain and current club officer and lead co-ordinator of the Save Mapperley Golf Club campaign, said he would be “devastated” if the club had to close and echoed Mr Fern’s comments regarding senior members.
He said: “We know some of our older members have said if this place is to go, that would be it, they wouldn’t do any other sport, they wouldn’t socialise, this is where they come for their friendship groups.
“Even me, I’m in my 40s, this is where my friends are, so it’s a really important part of my life that it’s where I come to see people, get away from work and the pressures of home life, it’s not just fitness, it provides real mental health benefits.
“I don’t know where else I’d go to play because my friendship group is now here, I’m not originally from Nottingham so the friends I’ve made outside work have been at the golf club.”
In May, the ‘thriving’ club’s membership stood at nearly 500 members, with about 50 of them joining within the last year. Non-member footfall also increased by about 20 percent in 2025 on the previous year.
The club also has about 50 junior members playing on the course now, whereas there were only a “handful” a couple of years ago, according to Mr Pickard.
Nottingham boxing legend Carl Froch, former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion, has publicly joined the fight to protect Mapperley Golf Club from being built on, sharing his support on his Facebook page.
Mr Froch said on Tuesday (July 8) he wants the council to “think of the people” when concluding its consultation.
He said: “Think of the people, what do the people want? The people you’re supposed to serve, the people that pay their council tax, pay their taxes and have lived there for many years, generations a lot of them – think about them and what they’re going to do when they lose this golf course… Once it’s gone, it will never return.”
Jon Stone, 51, the current vice captain at the club who has been a member for eight years, said the older generation “are really going to suffer” if the golf club has to close one day.
He said: “I came to this place just on my own, I got talking to a [man] and he invited me to play with them, now me and that man are best mates.
“On a Saturday morning there’s 22 of us in a group, who have a little fuddle between us, as well as playing the competitions, the age range of that group is from 28 to 87.
“We’ve got lads and dads playing in that group, so it’s really – for me – a very personal thing.”
The site is currently let to Mapperley Golf Club Ltd through a 25-year lease which will expire on May 27, 2030.
Gedling Borough Council has agreed to submit the draft local development plan in December 2026 depending on any issues that come up within the current consultation period.
A spokesperson for the authority said: “The Gedling Local Development Plan is currently out for consultation until 3rd August 2026.
“The draft plan proposes a spatial strategy which requires new development to be located in accordance with a settlement hierarchy. As much housing as is feasible is proposed to be located within and adjoining the main built-up area of Nottingham as the most sustainable location in the borough.”
The spokesperson said a detailed habitat survey would form part of any future planning application on the site, which would include the requirement of a 10 per cent biodiversity net gain being delivered.
They continued: “A landscape assessment has been undertaken and confirmed that the landscape sensitivity is low and visual sensitivity medium. The site is able to accommodate development with an appropriate mitigation strategy to retain the woodland vegetation around the edges of the sites and links through to nearby recreational spaces.”
