South West: Portishead nine-holer to be revamped

A nine-hole course in Portishead is to reopen in 2016 after permission was given for extensive improvements.

The plans will include seven new greens, tee areas and a practice area, as well as landscaping to make it a year-round attraction.

Adrian Stiff, the architect who designed the course revamp, said: “We have got a few conditions to sort out but they should not be a problem.

“Hopefull we will get the construction started late spring, with a view to completing in autumn and being open in 2016.”

The course is run by Portishead Golf for All, which has signed a 25-year lease for the North Somerset Council-owned course.
‘We look forward to turning it into a really good course’ The fairways are on a steep slope but will be contoured to a more suitable level, with 16,000 cubic metres of soil being brought on to the site.

A number of objections had been raised by residents concerned about some of the tree species, which they feared would block their views of the Bristol Channel in years to come.

The company agreed to change these profiles and Stiff added: “I’m glad we have got permission and look forward to doing the construction and turning it into a really good course.

“We are going to plant a lot of lower growing species and remove from the plans all of the ones that were a concern.”

Before Portishead Golf for All took on the lease in 2013, the course had been closed for more than seven years.