Back in April 2020, shortly after the UK had gone into lockdown for the first time, Guy Shrubsole, the campaigner and author of Who Owns England (2019), set out to map and investigate London’s golf courses. While a natural continuation of his wider work on land ownership, it was also given particular urgency in the moment – not least for those living in densely populated cities – as the nation began to ask questions about use of, and access to, green space.
The results of this research produced some surprising findings. For example, although a considerable number of golf courses in Greater London are held in private ownership, the figure is less than half, at 45%. This turns out to be only slightly larger than the number owned by councils (42%). After several decades in which councils, schools, and other public institutions have been forced to sell off green space – including school playing fields and county farms – it seems pertinent to ask why so many golf courses have remained untouched.
Happily, there are signs of progress. In Cheshire, the Woodland Trust recently purchased a former golf course, and have been busy planting trees. The vision is for the site to “develop as native broadleaf woodland” and to link with other woodland sites as part of the larger Northern Forest, providing green space and fighting climate change.
And further east, on the Lincolnshire coast, the National Trust is busy converting a disused golf course – Sandilands – to “create new habitats for a variety of wildlife, especially migrating birds like black-tailed godwit, spotted redshank and spoonbills, along with breeding birds such as snipe, lapwings and oystercatchers.” This environmental mission is coupled with the social objective of providing “a space where everyone can enjoy the benefits of being in nature.”
More controversially, perhaps, the London-based architecture firm RCKa has developed a proposal to build housing on an existing golf course in Enfield, at the northern end of the city. Understandably, not everyone agrees with this vision, arguing that green space, once built upon, is lost forever. However, faced with an acute and growing housing crisis, it may be useful to ask whether some compromise solutions might begin to develop at the edges.
What the above examples demonstrate is a growing interest in the potential for repurposing golf courses, for reasons ranging from climate change mitigation and biodiversity benefits, to providing space for housing and food growing.
Which brings us to Glasgow, where the Glasgow Community Food Network (GCFN) are leading on a proposal to transform a disused golf course into a food growing space, with much of the land restored as a richly biodiverse space where wildlife can thrive.
Ruchill Golf Course
Around ten years ago, Abi Mordin, then Chair of GCFN, spearheaded an initiative to convert a plot of council-owned land in Glasgow into a community-owned urban farm. Although not a new concept, in the wake of Brexit, Covid, and a growing urgency around the climate crisis, urban and peri-urban agriculture has been touted as a key means of transitioning to more sustainable food production. In 2016, GCFN conducted a survey of its 110 members, all of whom are involved in the delivery of community food projects, to identify what services would be most useful to them. They found that in combination with the desire to see more locally sourced food in the supply chain, a ‘bulk buying’ service was most in demand, for fruit and veg co-operatives, community shops, cooking activities, and more.
The idea of a community-owned urban farm that could potentially start to address these needs continued to be developed through GCFN, as they searched for a suitable site, engaged with interested communities, and linked in with existing initiatives such as the Glasgow City Food Plan, and Glasgow City Council’s Food Growing Strategy and Open Space Strategy. Through this collaborative process, Glasgow City Council identified a disused golf course in Ruchill, north Glasgow. Owned by the council since the 1920s, and managed by the culture and leisure charity Glasgow Life, the course was closed in 2019 due to staffing issues, lack of funding, and declining usage. In the past five years, without constant maintenance, the vegetation has grown back, with areas of regenerated grassland, scrub, and meadows.
GCFN has proposed to use seven acres of the 48-acre site for agroecological food growing and education, and to keep other parts of the course – which also includes a protected ancient woodland – as a green space, with public access via footpaths. To protect the newly emerging biodiversity, GCFN have put in a formal application to the council to establish a long-term lease in collaboration with other partners, such as Community Moorings Scotland, outdoor education providers, and interested residents of Ruchill.
Until last year, no other organisations were vying to use the golf course, but now a number of groups are suggesting additional uses for it, including Scottish Canals, who, along with Make it Glasgow, an arts organisation focusing on Scotland’s ceramic heritage, are proposing a pottery museum and café. A bigger competitor for the site is a housing association, proposing to build social housing for families. Many residents are wary of this, however, feeling that there is already plenty of housing stock around Ruchill which hasn’t been created with affordability or families in mind.
If GCFN are awarded a long-term lease, they will be responsible for a large site, and having a range of partners may be a useful way to manage the site, and to bring in different streams of income and funding. GCFN’s golf course project can be seen as part of the broader Glasgow City Food Plan, an ambitious ten-year plan launched in 2021, with partners including the Glasgow Food Policy Partnership, NHS Greater Glasgow, and Glasgow City Council. The plan aims to build a healthier food system in Glasgow, increasing access to affordable and quality food, regardless of income or background, while also reducing the city’s carbon footprint, and improving health and wellbeing. Alongside this, GCFN are leading a five-year Food and Climate Action project, funded by the National Lottery and working with other networks in the city to increase urban agriculture, engage people through food education, and establish community-led green assemblies. Through the golf course project, GCFN are also contributing to Glasgow City Council’s ‘Greening Ruchill’ development plan, aiming to improve active travel networks between green spaces in the north of Glasgow. Ebany Dohle, GCFN’s Project Coordinator for Urban Agriculture, has been working with the Greening Ruchill project team to design social spaces and footpaths where people, particularly women and girls, feel safe.
Before redevelopment of the golf course can progress, GCFN have been conducting an ecological appraisal of the site, as well as testing the soil in collaboration with the council. A potential issue with soil contamination has arisen, and risks derailing the food-growing project. If the contamination is minimal or contained to one area, GCFN may be able to identify a suitable spot, and focus on regeneration and improving soil quality on the rest of the land. In the worst-case scenario, they may need to find a new site altogether. Despite this possible obstacle, though, an exciting project has been set in motion in Ruchill.
The site no longer feels like a golf course, overly manicured, doused in pesticides, and only used by a select few. The ongoing collaboration between the local authority, residents, and organisations like the GCFN, moreover, will hopefully mean this wildlife-rich space remains accessible and becomes part of a sustainable vision of the city and its spaces.
To find out more about the project or to get involved, visit glasgowfood.net or contact Ebany at ebany.dohle@glasgowfood.net
