Have your say on whether $8m pokie-free Warringah Golf Club House should be able to serve alcohol
A new golf clubhouse on the northern beaches will be poker machine-free, but wants to be able to serve alcohol, when it opens its doors after an $8m rebuild.
Manly
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Locals are set to have their say on a proposal to allow the soon to be redeveloped Warringah Golf Club to be run as a “registered club” that can serve alcohol to members and guests.
State Government planning permission was already granted for the new two-storey $8 million “golf and community” clubhouse to be rebuilt at North Manly.
It will be located on part of Northern Beaches’ Council’s Warringah Recreation Centre (WRC), which accommodates tennis, squash and five-a-side soccer courts, at the corner of Pittwater and Kentwell roads.
Now, the public will be asked, later this year, for its opinion on a draft Planning Proposal about whether an “additional permitted use” — a registered club — can go ahead on the site.
In NSW, registered clubs can be established for “sporting, literary, social, political, athletic, or any other lawful purpose and are subsequently granted licences to allow them to serve liquor to members and guests”, according to the website of Clubs NSW.
Registered clubs are also allowed to have gaming, or “poker” machines,and can facilitate betting through the TAB and KENO.
But Warringah Golf Club officials have already indicated the new clubhouse would be poker-machine free, under an agreement with the council.
The Club is paying for its new facility through the sale of its previous clubhouse on nearby Condamine St.
The new clubhouse will include facilities that are open to the public and other sports organisations, not just club members.
Club president Scott Campbell said it was “looking to create a family friendly club, open to the community”.
“The conditions put in place in the DA determination, including the registered club, are achievable,” Mr Campbell said.
“We will continue to work with the council to complete the project, which has been a long time in the making.”
In February 2020, the council resolved to agree in principle for the club to build a new clubhouse on the WRC site.
According to the draft Planning Proposal to amend local planning rules, officials wanted to “remove any ambiguity in relation to the permissibility of a registered club at the WRC site” and to permit the “lawful operation of a golf clubhouse as a registered club (subject to consent).”
Outspoken anti-poker machine campaigner and supporter of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Pat Daley, praised the club for going pokie-free.
Mr Daley, who pushed for gambling reforms while a councillor with Northern Beaches and Warringah councils, said it th golf club was seen as a “real example of what can be done” as NSW moves towards a reduction in macines and tougher poker machine policies.
“The proposed new club has wide support in the local community”.
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