About 200 people protest the sale of North Lakes Resort Golf Club

Protesters came out in force this morning to send a strong message to the people behind the proposed sale of North Lakes Resort Golf Club.

PROTESTERS came out in force this morning to send a strong message to the people behind the proposed sale of North Lakes Resort Golf Club.

About 200 people attended the “peaceful protest” in front of the golf club and organiser Andrew Cathcart said this was just the start of a campaign to stop the course from being turned into a retirement village.

“It’s all about representing the mums and dads of North Lakes and the small business because we don’t want to see bulldozers come in and come down our fairways and destroy our green land.

“We want a lifestyle, we were promised a lifestyle and we’re going to get it.

“We don’t want thousands of cars coming into North Lakes, there’s already enough development.

“There’s lots of vacant development area, they can use that.

“Let’s keep our golf course, let’s keep our green space and let’s keep the lifestyle we were promised.”

Andrew Cathcart addresses about 200 people at a peaceful protest at North Lakes Resort golf Club on July 28. Residents are concerned over the proposed sale of the course. Picture: David Alexander

The group has started a Facebook page, Save North Lakes Golf Course, which gained more than 2100 members in a matter of days.

Federal LNP Member for Petrie Luke Howarth also spoke at the protest.

“When I heard about it I was very concerned how it would change the North Lakes community, and the way closing the golf course would open it up to any form of development,” he said.

Mr Howarth urged any residents concerned about the proposed sale to lobby the local councillors and State Government members.

Club General manager Adam Simpson announced on Tuesday that 11ha of the site would be sold and turned in to a retirement village and aged care home.

Mr Simpson said the club would close at the end of next year, due to continued financial losses.

He said efforts to sell the golf course to another operator were unsuccessful and they were proposing to sell the land to retirement living and aged-care operator The Village Retirement Group (VRG).

If the sale goes through, VRG would build 200 low-rise independent living units and a three-storey 100-bed aged-care facility on two sites on the land, comprising 11 hectares.

The remaining 57ha would be retained for open space.

More to come.