The city council in Ikast-Brande will decide on Monday how to handle 15 disputed cases linked to the expansion of Ikast Golf Klub into a golf resort.
DR reports that local politicians must rule on 15 separate points concerning the course near Ikast. In most of the cases, the club has already carried out the work without having obtained permission.
The course is owned by Jens Poulsen, who is converting the club into a golf resort. The plans include a hotel and conference center, as well as a private home for Poulsen. According to DR, changes to the course itself account for most of the disputed points.
The course lies on a preservation-worthy ice age hill, and the municipality assesses that protected section 3 nature has been removed. DR reported on August 27 that the municipal administration believes seven of the points cannot be legalized through a dispensation.
One central dispute concerns a temporary access road of about 350 meters across the protected slope, with the terrain raised by 12 meters. The road runs through protected heath, and the administration does not believe it can be approved. Poulsen wants it made permanent as access to his new home.
Other points involve protected nature turned into playing surface. Per DR, about 1,000 square meters of protected meadow and 770 square meters of heath have been converted into course and path. The administration recommends refusing both.
Objections and other coverage
Club chairman John Kristensen tells DR that the area no longer had value as nature. As stated by Kristensen, members have played golf on the ground since the club started in 1990, and no land was taken.
Danmarks Naturfredningsforening alerted the municipality to the cases. According to director Lars Midtiby, the work was deliberate and systematic, without dialogue or attention to the rules, and in the association’s assessment directly illegal.
TV Midtvest reported on August 28 that the municipality found three projects to be in breach of the section 3 nature protection rules. Ekstra Bladet reported on September 3 that 12 of the 15 disputed items had already been carried out before approvals were in place.
A small gravel pit of four meters’ depth was dug on the historic meltwater plain for raw materials. It was approved by Region Midtjylland on the condition that the original shape is restored, but not by the municipality. The club wants to turn the area into a 4,000 square meter lake, which the administration recommends refusing.
Several other points are recommended for approval, including two lakes separated by a tunnel path and a platform for a new toilet building. DR notes that the case was already on the agenda in two committees. DR states that Poulsen declined an interview.
