An intense meeting took place on Monday in Wallasey town hall which saw the Labour Group file a motion which was later passed.\u00a0 The motion was filed in a hope to call for one the council\u2019s scrutiny committees to look at all details of the plan before making any submissions to the cabinet.\u00a0 The meeting was scheduled to discuss plans for Celtic Manor Resort, which would work alongside the current one already in Wales, saw hundreds of protesters assembled at the town hall to voice their concerns over the scheme.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plans were first put forward in 2016, following which\nthe council agreed to help the scheme with \u00a326m of prudential borrowing. This\nwas alongside the \u00a3600,000 the council spent on reports and surveys, which has\nnow meant that the scheme is now looking at having an estimated value of\n\u00a3200m. Developers Nicklaus Joint Venture\nGroup (NJVG) who are heading the plans, saw roughly 250 people gathered outside\nwith banners and signs in order to influence the council\u2019s opinion to throw out\nthe plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two out of the three motions that were presented and subsequently\nvoted upon by each party looked like a way to \u201ckill off\u201d the plan for the Golf\nResort. Speaking to the council, Councillor Chris\nBlakeley, the Conservative representative, stated that there is \u201cwidespread\nconcern\u201d over the plans as he believed that they were \u201cfolly\u201d. These concerns included a \u201cmassive public\nopposition and financial risks to the tax payer\u201d as well as concerns towards\nthe green belt. However, what was said\nwas not enough for Cllr Blakeley which saw his motion defeated by one vote,\nwhile the Labour parties\u2019 motion, which wanted more analysis, was passed by 3\nvotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting has all come about since an area of the Green\nBelt is looking at homing the \u00a3200m Hoylake Golf Resort plan, which is one of\ntwo Green Belt sites within the Hoylake and Meols area, with this site being\nthe larger of the two. The plans are\nsaid to include a 90-room hotel, a health club, spa, two 18-hole golf courses,\na golf academy as well as residential development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Margaret Greenwood, West Wirral MP, was subject to a leaked\nemail that showed her concerns about the plans, as she received 560 messages opposing\nthe plans versus 31 in favour, to all Labour councillors. Her letter asked members to think \u201cvery\ncarefully about the issues\u201d which would affect the future of Hoylake and that \u201cpeople\nvalue the green belt highly\u201d. However,\nsince then the party\u2019s Local Campaign Forum has since announced its objection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benefits have been spoken about to which the main point\nbeing that hundreds of jobs will be created within the immediate term, with\nthis figure then rising to around three hundred. The hotel capacity would also increase\ninvestment to the surrounding local businesses as it is hoped that there could be\nan influx of roughly 250,000 visitors annually. It has been said that when the\nproject has finished, which if started would be looking at to start in 2020 and\nfinished in 2027, that it \u201cwill be completely self-funding\u201d and that the\ncouncil would \u201cearn out of it.\u201d Cllr\nDavies has spoke on how if the plans were to be abandoned then it could send\nthe wrong message to visitors to the Wirral who could believe that it is closed\nfor business and so reduce the income for the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main argument against these plans is down to the green belt being the focus for this construction. The green belt is specific zones which are designated to retain large aspects of underdeveloped, wild or agricultural land so that urban growth is controlled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n