Chris Minns rules out repurposing more golf courses for green space after Moore Park move

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has said he will not slash golf courses across Sydney as golfers reel from the “unique” decision to repurpose half of Moore Park golf course for a major new inner city park.

When asked if the New South Wales government could give a solid commitment about not changing the use of existing golf courses on public land, Minns told reporters on Monday: “Sure … we don’t have plans for that.”

In preparation for a predicted 80,000 residents within 2km of Moore Park by 2040, 20 hectares will be carved from the 45-hectare public course and made into green space for recreational and sporting use.

The century-old course receives 500,000 visitors each year, but Minns said the site was a “unique case … driven by its proximity to the middle of Sydney”, with 35 million visitors to adjacent Centennial Park each year.

He said that there is no community appetite for turning green land – golf course or otherwise – into housing but that with Sydney’s population fast-growing, the demand for new public green spaces outweighed the need for an 18-hole golf course.

“It’s one of the most used public spaces in the entire city,” he said. “This is a better use of public land … amazing for families and a real tourist pull for the next 10, 20, 30 years.”

Despite the premier’s claims that his government “did hear them out” when it came to consulting with the golf club, the decision has been met with dismay by Moore Park Golf’s general manager, John Janik, who says the club was not properly consulted before the plan was announced in the press on Sunday.

“We were told on Saturday that there was going to be a story in the news the next day,” he told Guardian Australia, adding that the news had come as an “absolute shock. We weren’t expecting this at all.”

He said that he had met with the minister for planning “several weeks ago and he’d said nothing about planning a nine-hole golf course”.

“He asked the question ‘What is the difference between a nine-hole and 18-hole golf course?’ That’s as far as it got,” said Janik.

He posited shared public use after 5pm as one possible solution and questioned the need for further recreational facilities in an area that has equestrian, cricket and football provisions already, and claimed the existing park is lightly used as is.

Members, who pay a $2,000 joining fee and $2,612 annual subscription, were already enquiring about compensation regarding their joining fees while others were reconsidering their applications, he said.

“A nine-hole golf course is a practice course, it’s the same as if the Matildas played on half a soccer field,” he said.

“The damage is being done … The worse thing is it’s basically a working-class golf course. I would have thought a working-class government would look after its own.”

Golf courses across Sydney have been in the crosshairs of developers and governments in recent years.

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The privately owned Kogarah golf course is likely to merge with Liverpool golf club after the sale of its 100-hectare site near Sydney airport, while Cammeray golf club lost 40% of its land to the Warringah Freeway project.

Janik claims many former members of those clubs now use Moore Park, whose patrons, meanwhile, will be forced to travel further to find competition-grade 18-hole courses.

“Bit by bit golf clubs are disappearing. Golfers have nowhere to go,” he said.

A 2015 City of Botany Bay directions paper called for the 18-hole Eastlake golf course to be converted into a 65-hectare public park. Gordon golf course, owned by Ku-ring-gai council, was also deemed suitable for a similar transformation.

Brendan Taylor, the general manager of Eastlake golf course, said that the course is leased on a long term basis from Sydney Water and the land is zoned for special activities, limited to outdoor recreation.

He said he had not been approached by the local community in regard to calls for a different use of the land, adding that he’d “certainly hope” to have detailed consultation from his landlord should any changes to zoning or land use be planned.

The Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne, said golf courses may need to “open themselves up to public access” to protect their futures.

Marrickville golf course was the most accessible and most affordable golf course in the city and had always operated as a shared space, he said, adding that the inaugural Inner West film festival had just launched on the site of the golf course’s first tee.

“Yes, there are some safety issues, but by and large golfers are playing at Marrickville all the time and sharing the space with dog walkers and the general community and there’s no problem.”