Barnham Broom Golf Club Wores

Fears over Barnham Broom hotel site Barnham Brrom Hotel and Country Club - hopes for expansion ELAINE MASLIN 23 October 2008 06:46 Owners of a hotel and golf club who lease a site bought using £7m of council tax payer's cash have said their business will no longer be viable unless they can expand. The claim has been made by Barnham Broom Hotel and Golf Club in a renewed attempt to expand its facilities, potentially with £4.5m of council tax payer's money. In a planning application for a new 42-bedroom wing, link corridor and new car park, the club says it needs to expand in order to make the business viable in what it says is an increasingly competitive market in the greater Norwich area. And that “maintaining the status quo is leading towards a decline in business viability”. The application was lodged in the same week Breckland Council, which bought the freehold of the site for £7m in 2006, revealed it had earmarked £2.8m for upgrading its controversial asset in its proposed 2009/10 budget, with a further £750,000 in the years before and after - cash which looks likely to be put towards the planned expansion. When the council bought the site the deal included the council spending £4.5m on upgrading the facility. However, a previous attempt to get the go-ahead for the expansion last year was thrown out by South Norfolk Council over concerns about trees on the site. Last night Breckland had not responded to a request by the EDP to reveal how much cash it makes out of its £7million investment of council tax payer's money in the club. Previous statements by the council have said it would make them about 2pc more than having the cash in a bank account. The new planning application has been lodged with South Norfolk Council with a public consultation on the scheme due to end ob November 4. It says: “It has been apparent for some time that Barnham Broom needs to embark on a new phase of expansion and redevelopment if it is going to remain competitive in the greater Norwich marketplace and effective in the future. “Failure to do so will see the viability undermined.” It adds the club has “traded consistently well” over the last 18 years, “but 100pc of all the profit has had to be used to re-invest and support the facility. It goes on to say that their vision is to see Barnham Broom become Norfolk's flagship leisure hotel and a “destination facility of choice”. The improvements would also mean it could be upgraded from a three star to four star facility. Barnham Broom's finances had been called into question earlier this year when figures lodged with Companies House revealed a loss of £245,000 last year. The current three star hotel has 52 en-suite rooms, restaurant, sports bar, spa, health and fitness facilities, sports and function facilities next to two 18 hole golf courses over 300 acres and 175 car parking spaces. There is an existing consent for an additional 42 rooms, restaurant/function room with kitchen and car parking, first given in 1995 and renewed a number of times since.