Storied London golf course poised to cut six holes to make room for housing

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A storied north London golf course is moving ahead on its plan to shrink its current 36-hole layout and to use the extra land to build houses.

Corlon Properties, a London-based developer, is proposing to carve up more than a third of the links at the Sunningdale Golf and Country Club for a 51-hectare (126-acre) subdivision, called Sunningdale North.

The plan promises a total of 1,360 homes in five phases on the west side of the property, moving closer to an 18-hole layout the club announced to its members in 2017. Sunningdale now has two 18-hole courses north of Sunningdale Road and east of Richmond Street.

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“It’s been so long since it was announced that there would be this change to Sunningdale that people have had quite a while to get used to the fact that there will be fewer holes in the future, but we’ve had a lot of really excellent feedback on the quality of the golf course that is intended to remain,” said Corlon president Gordon Thompson.

Thompson’s grandfather, J. Gordon Thompson, founded Sunningdale in 1934 as a nine-hole course.

As the first phase of development kicks off, focused on four- to six-storey, mixed-use apartment buildings fronting the intersection of Sunningdale Road and Wonderland Road, the club’s Sunningdale West course will shrink to 12 holes from 18.

The rest of the subdivision largely will be comprised of townhomes and single-family homes, Corlon says. There also will be land set aside for a possible school on Wonderland close to the city’s northern border.

In a report going to council’s planning committee on Monday, city staff recommend moving forward on the new neighbourhood that would be served by eight streets.

In a note to club members obtained by The London Free Press, general manager Brad Adams characterizes the first phase, estimated to start construction in spring 2025, as the first step toward having just 18 holes.

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“With the beginning of Phase 1 comes the necessity to pivot to the 12-hole layout,” he writes. “Depending on development, the window to provide 12-holes West will be anywhere from two to five years.”

Adams adds, when the second phase, a southeast plot of land along Sunningdale, kicks off in the next four to seven years, the west course will shrink to nine holes.

The subdivision wouldn’t be Corlon’s first foray into building on links owned by its sister company; it took over several holes south of Sunningdale Road for its subdivisions of Sunningdale West and Sunningdale Court. In exchange, the club created six new holes closer to Richmond Street.

Thompson said feedback from residents on the plan has been favourable, including the possibility of a school in the eventual neighbourhood.

Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman, a member of the planning committee, said she’s in favour of the subdivision as it is in line with other neighbourhoods in the area, even if the apartments came as a surprise during a months-long consultation process.

The housing crisis means the city has an opportunity to seek growth where it might not have been thought of it years ago, Rahman said. Though approvals for single-family homes are becoming more rare, the border of the city is well suited for it, she said.

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A public meeting on the planned subdivision is scheduled for the Monday committee meeting at 1 p.m. at city hall.

The 160-hectare Sunningdale Golf and Country Club opened with nine holes in July 1934. The course was designed by Stanley Thompson and Clinton Robinson, “two of the most respected course designers in Canadian history,” its website states.

The Sunningdale name was inspired by a famous course of the same name in London, England.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

@jackmoulton65

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