The city council in Ikast-Brande has granted dispensation for 14 of 15 disputed conditions at billionaire Jens Poulsen’s golf resort at Ikast Golf Klub.
The vote took place at a council meeting on Monday evening, September 7. DR reports that the golf course topped the agenda, that every spectator seat was taken, and that several attendees had to stand.
A majority of the council backed the proposal presented by the mayor. It grants dispensation on 14 of the 15 points where conditions at the course conflict with the Nature Protection Act, the Planning Act or the local plan.
As reported by DR, Poulsen, acting as developer, had in most cases already established the disputed conditions before permission was sought. The mayor told the chamber that he had never handled a comparable case.
Replacement areas of double size
Several of the dispensations cover places where protected nature in Denmark was removed. In return, the council requires new areas of double the size to be established elsewhere.
Poulsen attended the meeting in person. During the public question period he said his sense of justice reacted to not being heard, and he described the decision basis as deficient and in several cases directly misleading. According to DR, he also said he felt he had won a major victory.
The council went further than its own administration. Ahead of the meeting, the administration had recommended rejecting seven of the points, while eight were to be approved either permanently or temporarily.
Several council members argued that the administration’s recommendation was the right one. Among them was Simon Vanggaard of the Danish People’s Party, who has previously criticized the project.
Vanggaard told the council that the case was not about minor mistakes, but about interventions in some of the area’s most valuable landscape and nature. He said dispensations should be granted where the law allows it, but that the council must also be able to say no.
One point refused
The single point that did not receive dispensation concerns turning a former gravel pit into a lake. Region Midtjylland requires that the gravel pit be returned to a level surface after use.
The site lies in an Ice Age landscape, and the case has been closely followed locally. DR has previously reported that the resort omitted to seek permission on 15 occasions before construction, prompting the mayor to bring the matter to the council.
With Monday’s vote, the disputed conditions at Ikast Golf Klub are now covered by dispensations in all but one case. The requirement for replacement nature areas of double size applies where protected nature was removed.
