A GOLF club is seeking to rip up an agreement made with the council 32 years ago so that it gain charity status.
Members of Newton Stewart Golf Club have swung into action so that their historic club can evolve into a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO).
However, this is currently not possible due to legal agreements made with the local authority in 1993.
Newton Stewart Golf Club was first instituted in 1896 when the original nine-hole course was created.
The course was extended to 18-holes in 1993, with the additional nine holes being created on land that belonged to the council. This land was handed over to the golf club for free, but with specific ‘burdens’.
These conditions meant the land would revert back to council ownership if the club folded. The council has also retained the right to appoint a limited number of representatives to the club’s management committee, and can have a say on increases to membership fees.
In order to allow the charity status to be approved, Dumfries and Galloway Council officials are recommending that the burdens are replaced with a simple agreement that the council can claw back any increase in value of the land should it be used for development purposes in the future.
Councillors will be asked to approve this proposal at the economy and resources committee next Tuesday.
Colin Freeman, the council’s principal estates and asset management officer, produced a report on the matter. He wrote: “The club have demonstrated over the course of their existence to be a very independent and capable club, requiring little or no input from the council.
“The burdens relating to representatives on the management committee and the membership fees have not been enforced for over 20 years and could be seen as a demonstration that the club do not require the intervention of the council to succeed.”
Club leaders feel that by becoming more independent of the council and switching to a charity organisation they will be able to provide activities that promote health and wellbeing, and develop the club further.
Mr Freeman continued: “It is not envisaged that the club would find itself in a position whereby it ceased to operate/exist, but if it did after becoming a SCIO, any assets held at the time of winding up would be transferred to a similar or same type of local organisation.
“In this scenario the land would not be recoverable by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
“Dumfries and Galloway Council has an obligation to protect its interest in assets it holds or has sold. Therefore, if agreed by members, as a condition of allowing the removal of burdens and conversion to a SCIO, a new agreement will be made which will provide that should the land be developed in the future, any uplift in the current value of the land will be returned to Dumfries and Galloway Council.”
