Dear Supporters,
Hoylake Golf / Celtic Manor Resort – good for the economy?
The Hoylake Golf Resort Developers say that the resort will be good for local businesses. However, they also say “This project is more about the hotel and the business and conferencing – only 10 percent of the business is golf.” That means that 90% of their profit comes from keeping guests staying in the resort and using the facilities.
They also say “Celtic Manor started off with only 70 bedrooms…who knows what can happen here? It has now expanded into a monster resort with four hotels, 7 restaurants, spas, gymnasiums, hairdressers and a shopping mall, 3 golf courses and floodlit driving range.
The Hoylake Golf Resort will start of with 90 bedrooms, a 110 table restaurant, a health and leisure facility with local membership available, gymnasium and spa with 8 treatment rooms.
Have you noticed that originally there were to be two club houses, one for the championship course and one for the municipal. Now they boast "there will be one club house for all" - why is that? Perhaps they know that the municipal hasn't really got a viable future (especially as golf is in decline and the Council is trying to "off load" other municipal courses. Brackenwood golf course is also under threat of housing development.)
Celtic Manor say that if the resort gets the go ahead it will be just the start and they fully intend to add to the resort and bring additional facilities and add further developments. All this will be done to maximise the profits of the resort and encourage guests to stay on site and entice Wirral residents in to the resort.
The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales has on site activities such as high ropes adventure, laser combat, pitch and put, soft play and archery. They offer all day activity passes and promotions and an on-site nursery. Major sports events such as football matches and rugby are shown on live screens in all the resort bars.
They have a very full calendar of year-round events such as “Cocktail Days”, “Jazz night and Dinner”, “Dancing with the Stars” Ball Room events, Themed Dinners such as “A Taste of India” and “The big steak sizzle”, afternoon tea and Sunday dinner. They have offers and gift experiences for dining, hairdressing, spa and sports events
They have Whisky tasting masterclasses, Gin and Prosecco Events, English Wine Week and a National BBQ week with live music
They have Polo Events with a “polo village of live music and an array of buzzing bars and eateries”
There are events focussing on all the school holidays, Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc. Their programme of Christmas Events offers over 70 separate events including “Winter Wonderland White Party”, “Venetian Masquerade Ball” “Las Vegas Night”, Motown and Abba tribute nights, 70s and 80s nights. “Gangsters and Molls” and “Black Tie Extravaganzas”
There are Christmas day, Boxing day, New Years Eve and New Years day dining events and a New Years Eve Gala Dinner.
Christmas Events for the family include Elf Workshops, Cracker Making workshops, Christmas Chocolate making and their Christmas Kingdom includes a Santas Grotto, food stalls and even an ice-skating rink!
All this will be done to maximise the profits of the resort and encourage guests to stay on site and entice Wirral residents in to the resort.
The resort in Wales has a shopping mall: “Our Celtic Mall is a perfect shopping paradise within the Resort, with gifts and items to surprise and delight. From the fabulously unique Bonnie & Pearl and Wickedly Welsh Chocolate Co. to brands such as Gant, Tommy Hilfiger and Joules, there's plenty to find and plenty to like!
They have pop up shopping events with complementary spa treats and boast that you “can get all your Christmas Shopping done in one fail swoop”… “ then pop into one of our bars for bubbles and festive nibbles”.
This resort will not be good for most local businesses. It will be in direct competition with golf clubs and driving ranges, hotels, conference centres, activity centres and wedding venues across the Wirral. It will be in direct competition with bars, restaurants and pubs, live music venues and any business who puts on functions or events during school holidays or Christmas events. The resort will be in direct competition with hairdressers, beauty spas and gyms and the local shops in Market Street Hoylake.
The Council and the Developers are promising much for the “local economy” but they have yet to undertake an Economic Impact Assessment and they are very often commissioned to justify a proposal rather than search for the economic truth. Ultimately, it will not be until several years after the resort has been completed that the true economic impact will be known, although it is reasonable to expect that there will be a likelihood that jobs will be lost in businesses which will be in direct competition with the resort.
This resort will totally change the character of Hoylake and West Wirral forever, it will dominate the skyline for miles around, bringing noise, light, traffic chaos, pollution and disruption during both the years of ongoing construction and following completion. It will destroy the environment we know and love. They may say that they will create "wildlife habitats", but how will the wildlife that currently in habitat the site be able to live alongside such a resort with all its noise, light, traffic, human activity and disturbance?
Councillor Phil Davies says that the resort has the support of the “Business Community”. However, a survey undertaken of 45 Hoylake shops by the Stop Hoylake Golf Resort Action Group showed 15% in favour of the resort, 52.5% against and 32.5% undecided or needing more information. Businesses further afield from Market Street, especially those who are in direct competition to what the resort offers, will not receive any positive benefits. Businesses in Meols and Moreton who rely on passing trade will be impacted by the new “by-pass” road diverting business away from the area.
Check out Celtic Manor on Trip Advisor and read the comments, they are all about the facilities on the site and hardly any mention the local area or visiting outside the resort.
Celtic Manor has done very little for businesses in Newport. They talk about how they have bought up local hotels that were struggling - but fail to explain that they were struggling in the first place because of the dominance of Celtic Manor.
Consider this quote from an article about Newport which mentions Celtic Manor:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/02/15/newport-countys-fa-cup-run-symbolic-club-city-emerging-shadows/
‘Not least because this was where the 2010 Ryder Cup was staged, the last grand sporting occasion staged hereabouts to claim it was “good for the town”.
“Yeah, that was a right load of b------s,”... “Fact was, they bussed all the spectators from the train station straight up to the golf. Not one of them spent a penny in town….”’
Celtic Manor do not recognise trade unions and they are not accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. 17% of their workers are from the EU.
Celtic Manor say they will create just 100 jobs. They are to be permanent part- time and full-time staff, but this will also include a bank of casual and zero hours contract workers.
The Council say this will be a “wealth creator” and will be good for the economy but this resort will be designed to maximise profits and suck wealth out of the local community. In the same way that out of town shopping centres destroy local high streets this resort will divert trade away from local businesses. In reality this resort will only be good for the “economy” of the Nicklaus Joint Venture Group, the billionaire owner of Celtic Manor (Sir Terry Mathews who lives in Canada) and Steve Morgan (net wealth £942 million) the owner of Redrow Homes (Redrow Profits last year up by 21% to £380million)
Do you own a business on the Wirral associated with the leisure industry – or do you work for one? How do you think this monster resort will affect your business?
There will be an Extraordinary Council meeting this Monday, 25th February to discuss the resort and to try to “kill it off”. Please spend just 10 minutes this weekend emailing ALL the Councillors and tell them what you think. (Their email addresses are below, just copy and paste them)
We urge everyone who wants to stop this monster of a resort from destroying our Green Belt to attend Wallasey Town Hall on Monday 25th February at 5pm to join the protest and to lobby the councillors as they arrive for the meeting.
Save the Green Belt – Once its gone its gone forever!
phildavies@wirral.gov.uk, jeanrobinson@wirral.gov.uk, tonycottier@wirral.gov.uk, christinamuspratt@wirral.gov.uk, jerrywilliams@wirral.gov.uk, elizabethgrey@wirral.gov.uk, briankenny@wirral.gov.uk, juliemcmanus@wirral.gov.uk, patcleary@wirral.gov.uk, jeanstapleton@wirral.gov.uk, joewalsh@wirral.gov.uk, irenewilliams@wirral.gov.uk, maryjordan@wirral.gov.uk, cherrypovall@wirral.gov.uk, adamsykes@wirral.gov.uk, georgedavies@wirral.gov.uk, stevefoulkes@wirral.gov.uk, gillianwood@wirral.gov.uk, chriscarubia@wirral.gov.uk, philgilchrist@wirral.gov.uk, davemitchell@wirral.gov.uk, tomanderson@wirral.gov.uk, davidburgessjoyce@wirral.gov.uk, wendyclements@wirral.gov.uk, andrewhodson@wirral.gov.uk, kathyhodson@wirral.gov.uk, lesrowlands@wirral.gov.uk, tonycox@wirral.gov.uk, gerryellis@wirral.gov.uk, andrewgardner@wirral.gov.uk, ronabbey@wirral.gov.uk, sharonjones1@wirral.gov.uk, anitaleech@wirral.gov.uk, berniemooney@wirral.gov.uk, thomasusher@wirral.gov.uk, janwilliamson@wirral.gov.uk, bruceberry@wirral.gov.uk, chrisblakeley@wirral.gov.uk, stephenwilliams@wirral.gov.uk, allanbrame@wirral.gov.uk, pauldoughty@wirral.gov.uk, stuartkelly@wirral.gov.uk, phillipbrightmore@wirral.gov.uk, katecannon@wirral.gov.uk, mikesullivan@wirral.gov.uk, angeladavies@wirral.gov.uk, samanthafrost@wirral.gov.uk, tonynorbury@wirral.gov.uk, billdavies@wirral.gov.uk, moiramclaughlin@wirral.gov.uk, chrismeaden@wirral.gov.uk, adrianjones@wirral.gov.uk, christinejones@wirral.gov.uk, paulstuart@wirral.gov.uk, tonysmith@wirral.gov.uk, stuartwhittingham@wirral.gov.uk, davidelderton@wirral.gov.uk, jeffgreen@wirral.gov.uk, geoffreywatt@wirral.gov.uk, ianlewis@wirral.gov.uk, lesleyrennie@wirral.gov.uk, paulhayes@wirral.gov.uk, pathackett@wirral.gov.uk, tonyjones@wirral.gov.uk, christinespriggs@wirral.gov.uk, jobird@wirral.gov.uk