FRESH plans to extend the clubhouse at Sturminster Marshall Golf Club have been submitted – five months after an appeal over a previous scheme was denied.

Plans to develop the building were refused by Dorset Council in October 2021, and an appeal dismissed 12 months later.

Now, however, CL Planning on behalf of the club, has submitted a revised plan for the building, which the application said would ‘secure the long-term viability of the golf club’.

“The Sturminster Marshall Golf Club needs an alternative income stream to ensure that the level of profit made by the club is sustainable and sufficient to enable required continued investment into the facilities at the club,” it said.

“The proposal provides opportunities for increased covers and to take place helping to secure the club’s future.”

It describes the current clubhouse as ‘non-descript, suburban, 1980s-style with no particular architectural merit’.

Sturminster Marshall Golf Club plans for extended clubhouse. Photo: AS Plan/Dorset Council

The new plans are described as working ‘in harmony with the site’s opportunities and constraints – providing the opportunity to enhance the golf club’s facilities on site, while providing additions that result in a well-balanced and proportioned

building, befitting the site’s setting and the viability and success of the golf club’.

It would see a first-floor terrace created, with the project increasing the number of covers available at the restaurant.

“The scheme has been carefully conceived to positively enhance the site’s setting while having regard to the openness of the Green Belt,” it added.

For more details on the plan, and to comment, log on to www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk and search for application reference P/FUL/2023/00233.