Wollondilly Council says it has now secured the future of Antill Park Golf Course.
At its meeting on Tuesday night the council chose the tender from the current operator of the public golf course, Antill Park Country Golf Club.
Council says it decided to reject all other expressions of interest because none of them “fully met the tender objectives’’.
The council decision was made in secret, with no media or the public allowed to attend.
Council went into confidential mode, as it usually does in commercial matters such as this, to consider the tenders submitted as part of the expressions of interest process for a new Antill golf course lease.
So while council has now revealed who the successful tenderer was, the public are none the wiser as to who else tendered, and what their proposal were.
We don’t know if the decision went to a vote or how close that was.
Interestingly, we might get to find out who one of the other tenders was soon enough.
As the preferred tenderer, council says it is providing the Antill Park Country Golf Club with an opportunity to fully meet the tender objectives.
Under the terms of council’s resolution, if an agreement can’t be completed by the end of April, council will:
• Extend the current lease with Antill Park Country Golf Club by up to 12 months to provide certainty to members whilst negotiations continue with the club.
• Negotiate with both Antill Park Country Golf Club and the second preferred tenderer with a view to entering into a contract for the operation and management of Antill Park Golf Course under a new lease.
Following the negotiations, a report will be presented back to council to make the final decision on the lease.
Council also said in its media release that the decision “has re-affirmed that no part of the site is to be sold to developers for high density housing or any other purpose, nor will council consider developing any part of the site for residential housing.’’
“I am disappointed with some of the public commentary on the matter that suggested council did not have best interests of community at heart,’’ Mayor Matt Gould said in the council media release.
“These rumours are not helpful to anyone and should not be the way we do things here in Wollondilly.’’
