A high profile MP has backed a petition calling for golf courses to be opened up to the public for exercise.
Caroline Lucas, the Brighton Pavilion MP and former Green Party leader, told her more than 450,000 Twitter followers that it was “surely common sense” for them to be used to give people “more room to walk and run”.
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Following widespread criticisms of people packing into parks and open spaces in good weather this weekend – in apparent flouting of Government ‘lockdown’ rules – a number subsequently closed their gates.
That led Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin to tweet:
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Now a petition, started by Friends of the Earth campaigner Guy Shrubsole at Change.org and backed by Lucas, argues that: “Instead of closing public parks during coronavirus, we should be opening up private green spaces so there’s more room for everyone to exercise safely.
“There are 300,000 acres of courses across the UK – 10 times more space than we give to allotments – and 48,000 acres of golf courses within London and its Green Belt alone.
“Why not open them up to public for exercise, as journalist Rosamund Urwin and others have suggested?”
He added: “Rather than let our existing parks become overcrowded, it would be safer to open up more green spaces like golf courses.”
With clubs closed as a result of restrictions imposed by the pandemic, except for greenkeepers carrying out essential maintenance, Lucas’ intervention appears to be gathering support with, at the time of writing, her tweet having garnered than 3,000 likes.
But she also faced plenty of criticism from golfers and non-golfers alike.
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What do you think of the petition and Lucas’s support for it? Let us know in the comments or tweet us.
- Related: ‘We can’t let them win’ – Campaigner hits out at clubs opposing petition
- Related: ‘It will be a miracle if we survive until winter’
- Related: How will the three-week lockdown affect our courses?
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