A majority in the Ikast-Brande city council has granted 14 of 15 retrospective dispensations for construction work at Ikast Golf Klub, owned by textile billionaire Jens Poulsen.
The decision was made at a council meeting on Monday evening, September 7, 2026, in Ikast-Brande. DR reports that the dispensations cover a long list of conditions the municipal administration considers at odds with legislation, local plans, and rural zone rules.
The golf course lies on a conservation-worthy Ice Age hill. The municipality assesses that protected paragraph 3 nature has been removed. In some places the terrain has been raised by several meters, and a construction road and a rainwater basin have also been established.
Of the 15 points on the agenda, 14 were granted dispensation. The administration had proposed that the council approve eight conditions and reject seven. DR reported on September 2, 2026 that the golf resort had failed 15 times to seek permission before building in the Ice Age landscape. TV 2 also covered the council meeting.
The single point that was not approved concerns converting a small gravel pit into a lake. According to DR, Region Midtjylland has required that the area be restored after use.
Poulsen attended the meeting himself and used the public question time to present his view. He said the administration had presented the case incorrectly. He also said afterwards that he had not expected to win 100 to nil.
Appeal planned and calls for the minister
Marie Mosegaard Mortensen, local chair of Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, called it completely unheard of that a council majority drives through a red light. She described the decision as disrespectful toward the nature protection law. She said she will now begin the appeal process.
Michael Tophøj Sørensen, an associate professor at the Department of Sustainability and Planning at Aalborg University, has reviewed the case. He told DR that he is also surprised by the council’s decision. He said he expects the minister to intervene, and that in his assessment such a step would be well founded.
Under the Danish Planning Act, the minister for cities and rural districts can take over a council’s powers in certain cases. That post is held by Signe Munk of SF. Tophøj Sørensen described such an intervention as relatively unusual, but not without precedent.
The works in question sit on land the municipality classifies as protected, placing the case within the rules that govern Danish nature and rural zoning. The appeal announced by Danmarks Naturfredningsforening has not yet been filed.
