A BID to site 12 mobile holiday lodges on a golf course has run into the rough in the form of opposition from town councillors.

Forest Hills Golf Club in Coleford and Bentley Pacific Limited want to site the timber clad holiday lets on two acres of unused grassland beside the 18th fairway, an area formerly used for ‘foot golf’.

But Coleford Town Council have objected to the scheme, saying the wood clad units don’t fit in with the landscape and will destroy the view.

Planning permission for another 20 units south-west of the Mile End Road site already exists, and town councillors say the damage will be even worse if both schemes go ahead.

A statement by the applicants for the 12-caravan proposal says the aim is to “create high quality tourist accommodation which will be served by the existing leisure and hospitality facilities within the club house.”

They claim it “will enhance tourism and employment in the locality and will satisfy a proven demand for high quality tourist accommodation in this part of the country.”

Despite the application claiming there will ‘be no adverse impact on the ecology of the site”, Natural England and the Forest Council’s ecologist have called for bat and habitat surveys, with the likes of greater and lesser horseshoe bats inhabiting the nearby Old Bow and Old Ham Mines site of special scientific interest and the possibility of great crested newts.

In a report, Forest Council Local Plan officer Anna Welsh says the site near the golf club entrance is a ‘protected landscape’ and there would be ‘prominent views’ of the lodges, which have a ‘very basic and incongruous appearance’.

“Given that the proposal will have a significant landscape impact, it is my opinion that it would be more prudent to develop and run the approved holiday lets prior to applying for additional units,” she says.

“The cumulative impact of both schemes is much greater in terms of potential harm to the landscape.”

The Forest Council’s planning department are expected to rule on the scheme later this summer.