Strict guidelines set for redevelopment of golf club's 87 acres

Developers looking to build on Balmoral Golf Club's 87 acres of prime development land in south Belfast will have to meet strict planning conditions - as well as pay a hefty price tag.

A development brief for the golf club, issued late last month, sets out guidelines for interested developers. The brief was issued after a meeting early this year, when club members agreed to establish the value of the land by formally putting it on the market.

Bids have to include plans to relocate the club to another site in the southern outskirts of the city, or make financial provision for the club to find and build an alternative site itself.

It is understood that a number of developers had been in discussion with the club about a possible purchase of the site, which it has occupied for almost a century.

Demand for properties in south Belfast is at a record high, with land valued at around £0.5 million sterling per acre.

It was widely reported that, in previous discussions, Dunloe Ewart made an offer of one payment of £37 million, or £22 million along with provision of a new course.

A source close to the club's advisers suggested that to comply with the demands set out in the development brief could cost more than double that amount.

Spokesmen for the club and its advisers said that while early media coverage had focused on potential windfalls of £60,000 for each of the 932 club members, the developers' brief showed that the members' real intention was to obtain a better course for the club.

The brief warns prospective developers that "a planning application for development of all or part of the property is likely to be treated as a major planning application and referred for public inquiry".

Some commercial property agents have been quoted as valuing the land at up to £80£100 million, with another £50 million needed to develop the site.

Speaking to the Belfast Newsletter, Mr Alistair Dunn, the managing director of Lisney, the club's property advisers, said it was difficult to put a value on the land because it was not yet known how developers plan to use it. The land is itself subject to strict planning guidelines.

"It depends on what developers think they can get planning permission for, on a sensitive planning issue," said Mr Dunn.

"Schemes which don't allocate at least 50 per cent of land to open space are unlikely to get approval. It is designated a green, open, private recreation space at the moment and anyone who wants to develop any part of it is going to have to satisfy planners," he said.

Developers will need to submit proposals by May 16th and a successful submission will need the support of the majority of the members at an EGM, expected in November.

At the moment it is not clear whether female members of the club will be entitled to vote and this would need to be established before any decision could be taken as final.