The fight against a controversial golf centre extension at Carnoustie is to be taken to Scotland’s charity regulator.
Town councillor Bill Bowles is seeking a meeting with the independent regulator and registrar over Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee’s £4.75m project.
Mr Bowles has also written to the audit commission to look at the way Angus Council meetings are run after his failed attempts to overturn last month’s decision to grant landlord’s consent for a £2.95m CGLMC loan.
He said: “At the moment with the SNP block voting I can’t get the required two-thirds majority to have it reheard so do not intend going down that route again.
“The administration have done all they can to prevent an open and transparent debate and as such the accountability of the council and the CGLMC has to be brought into question.
“I have also written to the Audit Commission to look at the running of Angus Council meetings and am seeking a meeting with the Office of Scottish Charities Regulator to discuss the protocols and adherence to the objects of the CGLMC in regards to the building of a bar and restaurant facility adjacent to an existing facility in the Carnoustie Golf Hotel.”
The £4.75m project has divided the town with concerns being raised at the impact the new bar and restaurant would have on other businesses.
Carnoustie Links belongs to Angus Council, but the management of the Links is carried out by CGLMC.
Under the terms of their agreement, the local authority is required to give consent if CGLMC seek to borrow more than £200,000.
Mr Bowles led a procedural challenge to the decision by forcing the matter back onto the table through a request for a suspension of the council’s standing orders.
A special meeting saw councillors tied after a vote on the issue and independent councillor sought to reopen the debate but withdrew the motion before a special meeting last week after the council’s head of law and administration, Sheona Hunter, told councillors landlord’s consent had already been issued.
It is understood Mr Bowles was threatened with an interdict by Mrs Hunter if he continued to bring the matter to full council.
He said: “The only thing I am satisfied with is the apology I have received for threatening legal action against me and I will be taking that matter no further.”
At last month’s meeting, CGLMC chairwoman Pat Sawers said the golf centre extension was “much needed” to retain Carnoustie’s status with the R&A, which organises the Open.
Mr Bowles said it should be made clear that there is no correlation between the proposed facility and the continuation of Carnoustie on the Open circuit.
He added: “It is entirely wrong and misleading for Mrs Sawyers to state that the Golf Centre Extension is ‘much needed’.
“What is much needed is a warm up area and floodlit driving range and which would fit into the Charitable Objects entirely.
“No one is against investment here but Carnoustie does not need a bar and restaurant which could damage the viability of the Golf Hotel which in turn could jeopardise the prospects of the Open returning after 2018.”
