LIVERPOOL’S newest golf course would be the centrepiece of a sports park earmarked for derelict school premises.
A developer wants to create a “pay-as-you-play” nine-hole course on the site of the former Lee Manor high school, in Belle Vale.
The facility, which would include a practice area, putting green, clubhouse and crazy golf section, has been in the pipeline for more than two years.
Now a detailed plan for the £10m complex, to be known as Liverpool Sports Park, is finally set to be approved by councillors next week.
The scheme also includes a fishing lake, a “trim trail” for runners and cyclists, 11 all-weather floodlit football pitches and car parking.
The school’s derelict sports hall, which was torched by yobs in 2006, would be refurbished and brought back into use.
If councillors do back the scheme for the Childwall Valley Road site, work would start on the golf course and fishing lake almost immediately so they could open late next year.
A council report says the sports park would bring a range of activities to the area which are currently unavailable.
It says: “The different types of games offered at the golf course are specifically designed to attract people of different skill levels, age groups and incomes, something that is not directly catered for at the nearby golf courses.”
Lee Manor High closed in 2000 and the site became a magnet for vandals and arsonists, with firefighters called out on average once a month to put out blazes.
A spokesman for Liverpool Sports Park plc said: “We are pleased to have reached this stage in the progression of the scheme. Subject to planning permission, we are looking forward to starting on site.”
