1. What the Trustee announced
In November 2024, Buckinghamshire Council, acting as Trustee of Farnham Park Sportsfield Charitable Trust, published a formal notice concerning a proposed long lease of South Buckinghamshire Golf Course and Farnham Park Playing Fields. The property was described as an established 18-hole golf course and clubhouse, together with public playing fields, sports pitches, ancillary facilities and grazing land.

The stated purpose was to secure new operating arrangements, future investment and increased participation, while ensuring that the land continued to be used in line with the Charity’s objectives for physical training, recreation and outdoor sport for the local public. The public was invited to make representations before the proposed leasehold disposal proceeded.

Read the original public notice on the official Gazette website.

2. What the Trustee is now pursuing
The planning documents now submitted by the preferred leaseholder describe a substantially different proposal from the one outlined in the original public notice.

According to the EIA Scoping Request, the proposal includes:

• a change of use of part of South Buckinghamshire Golf Course to a football training facility
• multiple football pitches;
• a performance hub building;
• an indoor training pitch;
• parking, access roads and service areas;
• floodlighting;
• landscaping, drainage and boundary works;
• alterations to existing access arrangements; and
• a reconfigured golf course with new golf facilities.

As presented to the public by the preferred leaseholder, substantial areas of the site would become a fenced football training complex with no general public access and use. Any community use of the new facilities would be limited, subordinate to professional football activities and, during the public presentations, was not defined in terms of extent or availability.

These documents describe a major redevelopment of the site, including a private football training complex alongside community sports facilities. This is the proposal that is now intended to form the basis of the long-term lease.

Read the current planning record on Buckinghamshire Council's Planning Portal. (Some supporting documents may require registration to view.)

3. Why the difference matters
The original public notice invited both public representations and expressions of interest in a long-term lease based on the opportunity as it was described at the time.

The lease opportunity now being pursued is materially different.

If that proposal had been described from the outset, it may have prompted different public representations. It may also have attracted different organisations or operators interested in submitting bids for the lease.

This is particularly important because the land is not ordinary Council land. Parliament dedicated it for public sport and recreation for local residents. The Eton Rural District Council Act 1971 states:

"The council shall not develop any of the land other than for that purpose."

When a proposal would replace publicly accessible recreational land with substantial areas that the general public could no longer access and use, it is especially important that the lease process is based on an accurate description of what is proposed.

Given the land's statutory purpose and the significant change in the proposal now being pursued, the Trustee should not complete a long-term lease without restarting the lease process on the basis of an accurate description of the opportunity being offered.

4. What we ask Buckinghamshire Council, as Trustee, to do
We are not asking the Trustee to reject this proposal.

We are asking the Trustee to ensure that the lease process is fair, transparent and based on an accurate description of the opportunity being offered.

Specifically, we ask Buckinghamshire Council, acting as Trustee of Farnham Park Sports Fields Charitable Trust, to:

• Pause the current lease process before any lease is signed.
• Restart the lease process on the basis of the proposal now intended.
• Publish a new Section 121 public notice accurately describing that proposal.
• Invite fresh public representations.
• Conduct a new competitive tender for the lease.
• Only then decide whether to grant the lease.