Councillor Paul Morris OBE, Portfolio Holder for Community and Economic Development, announced that Hertsmere Council have agreed for SMM (UK) Ltd, to take occupation of the council-owned site whilst the longer term future of Bushey Country Club is considered.
SMM is a wedding and events management company and they are set to take up occupation of the former Bushey Country Club site as ‘meanwhile users’, subject to legal agreement.
Conservative Councillor Paul Morris OBE said: “Whilst we continue to work on developing a range of options for the longer term future of the site and consult Hertsmere residents, we considered it prudent to go out to the market for expressions of interest to occupy the site on a ‘meanwhile’ basis”
“We’re delighted to have secured interest from SMM (UK) Ltd to operate from the site, fulfilling our undertaking to generate income from this council asset and to keep it as a busy, functioning hub for Bushey, and the borough more widely for the next two to five years.
“They’ll operate wedding and events management at the site, and also take responsibility for maintaining the golf course and other utilities.
“The community centre, which is seeing a good level of usage, will be able to continue to operate as part of this plan.
He went onto Say “Once legal matters have been finalised, it’s anticipated that SMM (UK) Ltd will take over management of the site in the autumn when the property guardians, currently ensuring site security, are set to move out. Then after a short period of preparation the site will be operational again
“I’ll continue to run focus groups in the coming weeks on the longer term future of the site and, once a viable list of options has been drawn up, the council will run an opinion research exercise to gauge views of residents across the borough.”