Golf club members to decide on land swap in Bray within weeks

Bray Golf Club in Co Wicklow is to decide within weeks if it will proceed with a multi-million-pound land swap with the Earl of Meath. The move would see the development of the last major greenfield site in the town.

Under the main terms of the deal the golf club would hand over its present nine-hole, 47-acre course and move to a new site on the earl's land on the western slopes of Bray Head. The Brabazon family, Earls of Meath, have extensive land holdings around north Wicklow, centred on their stately home, Kilruddery, on the outskirts of Bray. The present course is held in part by the earl and the remainder by the golf club under a lease created 101 years ago by the present earl's ancestor.

In the current review of the Bray Urban District Council Draft Development Plan the zoning of the course has been changed from open space to mixed use involving part-residential, commercial, amenity and open space. Mr Gordon Lennox of the local estate agents, Jackson Stops & McCabe, values the lands at between £200,000 and £300,000 an acre with planning permission.

While reluctant to talk about the proposal, the club secretary/manager, Mr Tom Brennan, told The Irish Times that a relocation plan was in the offing and added that a decision would be made by the golf club members in a matter of weeks.

Mr Brennan did confirm, however, that the proposed new location of the course was on the western slopes of Bray Head facing the town's Southern Cross Route.

It is understood that the golf club has been offered enough land to create an 18-hole course. Planning permission for anything other than amenity use of this land would be extremely hard to secure.

In rezoning the club's existing land the council has retained the services of Brady Shipman Martin, town planners, to provide a draft area action plan for its development. It has also secured the co-operation of the neighbouring county council, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, in whose jurisdiction nine acres of the present course lie.

According to Mr Tom Murphy, the Bray Town Clerk, the council has taken the action to ensure "the proper development of the last greenfield site in Bray. It is the last major area of green space and it is important to get it right," he said. Negotiations between the club and the earl's family have been brokered by a local property developer.

While reluctant to talk about the proposal yesterday, the Earl of Meath's son, Mr David Brabazon, Lord Ardee, did confirm that such a deal was being discussed with the members of the golf club.

"It has actually been going on for 12 years, although it is hotting up now, beyond that I wouldn't like to say. I am sure that the golf club will reveal everything when the time comes. My family are a pretty low-profile lot," Mr Brabazon said.

In recent years the Brabazon family has received sums estimated at tens of millions of pounds for development land on the outskirts of Kilruddery. Bray's expansion in recent years has centred on this land, with the development of what amounts to a new town, Ballywaltrim, significant industrial estates and private as well as local-authority housing.