Auchmill Golf Club allowed to run

public course rent-free for a year

A closure-threatened municipal golf course in Aberdeen has been granted a reprieve.
The management committee of Auchmill Golf Club has been told by Aberdeen City Council that it can run the public Auchmill parkland course rent-free for a year.
Auchmill is the only golf club - members built their own clubhouse there soon after the course was opened in 1975 - based at the public course which is adjacent to the Aberdeen council house estate at Heatheryfold in the North suburbs of the Granite City.
The club's future was in doubt when, last December, the course was earmarked for closure by Aberdeen City Council as part of its £60million savings package. The savings would come from the cost of employing greenkeepers to maintain the course and staff to operate the pay-and-play starter's box.
Auchmill members came up with their own business plan and in March councillors agreed to hand the running of the course over to them - giving them a transitional licence to manage the finances for a year.
The scheme has now been approved by the Scottish Governemnt which had to have the final say because the agreed rental - nil - is below current market value.
Work on the terms of a longer-term lease could begin this autumn .
Aberdeen City Council leader Kate Dean said: "We are delighted that the transitional licence has been approved and hope the management committee seize the opportunity and that the coming year is a great success for Auchmill Golf Club."
The other public courses owned and operated by Aberdeen City Council are at Hazlehead, the Kings Links and Nigg Bay.