Coul Links (golf or not)

Coul Links lies just to the north of Dornoch on the east coast of Sutherland in Scotland. It is an area of dynamic coastal sand dunes, with internationally important wetland features, bordered to the east by Embo beach and the North Sea and to the north by the mouth of Loch Fleet. Immediately to the west lies improved farmland and to the south the village of Embo. The centre of the links is positioned at approximately 57.9°N, 4°W, grid ref. NH814939. The land forms part of Coul Farm. It is proposed that a golf course will be built on Coul Links. The Highland Council Impact Assessment form accompanying the initial planning submission states that "The proposed development has the potential to affect nature conservation interests on and around the site that are designated as being of international and national importance (Ramsar, Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest). In addition, there are recorded archaeological remains and the archaeological potential of the site is high". The site is a hive of biodiversity, home to over 1,400 species.

Drone's-eye fly-overs of the southern section of Coul Links with views towards the northern section that show the dune slacks in their Winter flooded condition can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13nh1l5LTCk and dry in early September at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-hjFAyc_IE

After The Highland Council approved the planning application for a golf course at Coul Links, against the advice of its planning officer and of SNH (now NatureScot), the case was called in by Scottish ministers. A Public Inquiry was held in February/March 2019.

ttps://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=119883

The inquiry reported to ministers in November 2019. On 21 February 2020 a decision was announced, “The Scottish Government has considered the reporter’s findings carefully and agree with the recommendation that planning permission should be refused.” “The likely detriment to natural heritage is not outweighed by the socio-economic benefits of the proposal.”

The Scottish ministers' reasoning suggests that a golf course routing at Coul Farm more sympathetic to the ecosystems of the dunes and respectful of their protection classifications could have met with little objection.

June 2022 saw a very similar scheme to the original entering the planning process. That application was validated in February 2023. The groundhog is not one of the species that make Coul Links worthy of environmental protection. At considerable time and taxpayer expense, a Public Inquiry confirmed that Coul Links is a site of national importance. The revived golf course proposal is being justified on the grounds of local (East Sutherland) economic benefit. That benefit would to a significant extent be gained at the expense of other golf tourism destinations within Scotland.

Details of the current planning application can be found at  http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/  reference 23/00580/FUL.

The report to councillors from the Highland Council Area Planning Manager North recommending refusal of the planning application can be found at Item 6.2 at https://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/4894/north_planning_applications_committee

coullinksgolf.com

This website aims to collect and provide links to items appearing on the internet that concern Coul Links and the proposal to site a golf course on that dune land. There is little editorial input beyond the brief description above and now extensive timeline below (and in the news archive) and our efficiency, or otherwise, in locating and correctly labelling relevant links. (A number of the links provided have become obsolete as interested parties have become inactive in the months/years since Scottish Ministers refused planning permission for the first proposed golf course at Coul Links.)

We hope that this website can serve to help people make an informed decision on support for or opposition to a golf course on Coul Links. The golf course plan has, regrettably but understandably, created deep divisions in local opinion with a quantity of questionable rhetoric reported in the local press, ("Cars and cats kill more birds than golfers." councillor McGillivray, The Press & Journal 13th November 2017). During the progress of the first planning application, the planning submission, consultee responses and public comment on The Highland Council planning website very possibly constituted a more reliable source of facts than did the media coverage listed in the lower part of this page. Along with media links, at the foot of this page we will seek to include any information that we can source, be it press releases or data, published by the developers or their agents.

When older news updates (now in the news archive page) sometimes read as being critical, it was no more than simple frustration with the demise of communication with the public from the original would-be developers and their failure to submit documents within the deadlines set by the Public Inquiry. We also admit to a growing frustration with the re-emergence of the discredited first proposal dressed up as fresh thinking.

coullinksgolf.com had intended to remain active to report on outcomes for Coul Links such as a management agreement and prospects for the recovery of the Northern Brown Argus butterfly presence after the fire of late March 2020. It will now remain active to monitor the progress of the second golf course planning proposal.

For links to media coverage of the Coul Links saga, scroll to lower on this page.

NEWS FLASH - 1 December 2023 - Rumours are emerging of American interest in buying Golspie Golf Club (sited between Coul Links and Golspie). The Club has called an EGM for 7 December.

NEWS FLASH - 1 December 2023 - The owner of Coul Links has bought a full page advertisement in The Northern Times print edition in which he presents a list of pledges he will personally deliver if the golf course plan comes to fruition. Amongst these are a fully-funded SSSI management plan and the employment of a Coul Ecology Officer. He reassures us that he will remain the owner of Coul Links but neglects to mention that it is under his family's ownership that the management plan was not renewed and the deterioration in the condition of the dunes has taken place.  

NEWS FLASH - 30 November 2023 - Rumoured to have been doing his best work in the Inverness corridors of power, twice-bitten, never shy Coul Links golf cheerleader Councillor McGillivray is feeling sufficiently confident to submit copy to The Press & Journal. In an opinion piece parroting Communities for Coul messaging, he emphasises the poor state of the economy, "there is no public money", perhaps hinting that he believes the Scottish Government will have no financial appetite for a second Public Inquiry. 

NEWS FLASH - 30 November 2023 - On its Facebook page on 29 November, Communities for Coul declared "Coul Links is one of very many Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in trouble. Experts estimate it will cost approx. £500k over a 3-5 year period to properly restore it. THE GOLF COURSE DEVELOPERS HAVE COMMITTED TO SPENDING THIS MONEY" (Their caps.) When does this committed spend start? Is this ring-fenced environmental restoration spend? Or is it spend on golf course construction as somehow environmentally restorative? Can golfers and non-golfers alike please hold the developers to account on this commitment?

 NEWS FLASH - 29 November 2023 - See Item 6.2 at https://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/4894/north_planning_applications_committee for the Highland Council Area Planning Manager North's report to committee recommending refusal of Communities for Coul's golf course planning application.

NEWS FLASH - 27 November 2023 - After more than three and a half months of zero information, the Communities for Coul Facebook page springs to life to appeal directly to Highland councillors for their support. However, it's a risk to assume that councillors can't tell fact from fiction. "The development will create up to 400 much-needed jobs for young people" - not even their own economic experts predict 400 jobs for young people. The development will "help stem our depopulation crisis" - The Highland Council website states that the population of the Highland Council Area increased by 13.9% between 2001 and 2021. The rare dune system will be rescued from "the invasive species currently threatening to overwhelm it" - their environmental experts don't suggest that the dune system is about to be overwhelmed. Deal in facts and the golf course application will stand or fall on its merits. Treat the public and their representatives as fools, and you deserve to fail.

NEWS FLASH - 27 November 2023 - The Northern Times reports that "Highland Council planning officials are recommending that the controversial application for a championship golf course at Coul Links be refused".

NEWS FLASH - 24 November 2023 - Perhaps what's been quiet in the Coul debate has been a voice that resonates with the experience of being there - a place that is simply good for the soul. Whether or not you want to see golf at Coul, it may be timely that NotCoul has released a video about the essence and life-enhancing qualities of Coul Links. The heartfelt wonder expressed by the contributing experts contrasts sharply with the monetise-or-dereliction narrative delivered elsewhere by the planning applicant's hired-gun expertise. See the video at  https://youtu.be/Bnm7krCGoGQ

NEWS FLASH - 24 November 2023 - The Communities for Coul company has written to Highland councillors in advance of the North Planning Applications Committee meeting of 6 December at which the Coul golf course application will be considered. The "primary concern" is to invalidate the objection submitted by NatureScot, though space is given to questioning the expertise of organisations such as the RSPB and to some dog-whistle localism. The company states that "all the information given and assertions made are factual".

Unfortunately, by the second paragraph the letter may have taken some liberties with "factual" with what is by now the persistent description of the application as being "community-led".

The application would appear to be "community-led" only in as much that, without a mandate provided by any local population, 5 individuals have set up a company, included the word "communities" in its name and positioned themselves, via their company, as actors for the community. Which community is unclear but it seems to be one with a consensus to closely align itself with the commercial interests of the developer whose application for a golf course at Coul Links was found to be unconvincing, and inevitably damaging, by a Public Inquiry and by Scottish Ministers.

Can it be "factual" to suggest that a planning application is community-led when that community is made up of the 5 directors of the applicant company? If the Communities for Coul company is content to be so woolly about what "community-led" might mean, how can any other of the information and assertions it presents be confidently accepted as "factual"? Scrupulous clarity should be a prerequisite of the stewardship of a site as diverse and precious as Coul Links.

NEWS FLASH - 1 November 2023 - The Coul Links golf development is slated to appear on the agenda of the next Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee meeting scheduled for 6 December. 

NEWS FLASH - 29 September 2023 - The Highland Council has published notices in The Edinburgh Gazette (22 September) and The Northern Times (28 September) announcing that the agents acting for Communities for Coul have submitted additional information in support of the Coul Links golf course planning application. This opens another 28 day window (from publication date) for public representations and comments.

NEWS FLASH - 02 September 2023 - The Northern Times, usually an unquestioning reporter of attempts to build a golf course on the protected land at Coul Links, has picked up on an article published in The Ferret on 27 August that reveals a "direct link" between Communities for Coul and the US developers behind the discredited first application to build on Coul Links. Finally some light of publicity being shone on the blindingly obvious.

NEWS FLASH - 30 August 2023 - The Northern Times reports that the Coul Links golf application will not be considered at the September North Planning Application Committee meeting and will now be examined at the 1 November meeting.

NEWS FLASH - 10 August 2023 - On its Facebook news page, Communities for Coul has returned to the story that only a golf course sited in natural sand dunes beside the sea at Coul Links can be commercially viable. A golf course on the slopes of Coul Farm, overlooking the dunes and the sea, would not attract the necessary number of visitors.

Texas has a golf industry worth $1.7billion and 907 golf courses (travelmag.com). golf.com ranks Trinity Forest the number one golf course in Texas - it has hosted PGA tour events. Trinity Forest is not sited on sand dunes, of which Texas has many. It is laid out over an almost flat former landfill site. Coul Links designers Coore and Crenshaw designed Trinity Forest.

Testament to the abilities of Coore and Crenshaw. And stretching credibility for C4C to imlpy that they need nature to do the design work for them to create a commercially viable course at Coul Farm.

NEWS FLASH - 4 August 2023 - With their Coul Links golf course application likely to be considered at September's meeting of the Highland Council North Area Planning Committee, Communities for Coul is making a concerted effort to discredit NatureScot, its methodology and its objection to the planning application. (See Links to local press towards the foot of this page.)

NEWS FLASH - 31 July 2023 - Some mixed messaging from the Mike Keiser camp.

Golf Digest (25 July) reports that Cabot Highland has broken ground on their new Tom Doak designed golf course adjacent to the now re-named Castle Stuart course. The site is largely gently sloping farmland - "The golf features at the new course will need to be imagined and constructed, like those at Castle Stuart were". (Golf Digest ranks Castle Stuart the 72nd best golf course in the world.) "Cabot Highlands and the Doak Course adds another magnetic force that should not just attract players to the north of Scotland, but also keep them there longer".

Meanwhile, the Observer/Guardian (30 July) reports Coul Links planning applicant Communities for Coul doggedly repeating the line that Coul Links "can't be just another golf course. It has to be a world-class golf course ... on genuine links land right next to the sea, following the natural contours, not some artificial obstacles created on flat farmland".

Cabot will no doubt be thrilled to hear their new project dismissed as sub-standard - "just another golf course". The Highland Council Planning Committee might take note that a commercially viable golf course could be imagined and constructed on non-environmentally-valuable land at Coul Farm. 

NEWS FLASH - 1 June 2023 - The Coul Links golf course application is not listed for consideration in the published agenda of the Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee meeting on 7 June.  https://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/4805/north_planning_applications_committee/attachment/81676 The next meeting is scheduled for 9 August. 

NEWS FLASH - 17 May 2023 - The Highland Council Planning website has published the Consultation Response from The Highland Council Ecology Officer (dated 16 May). "We object to the proposed development due to insufficient current ecological information to allow a robust assessment of the ecological resources of the site and associated impacts." And: "We also object to the proposal as it is contrary to National Planning Framework 4 Policy 3b that states 'Development proposals for national or major development, or for development that requires an Environmental Impact assessment will only be supported where it can be demonstrated that the proposal will conserve, restore and enhance biodiversity, including nature networks so they are in a demonstrably better state than without intervention'".

NEWS FLASH - 12 May 2023 - The week finishes with 1,045 public comments published on the Highland Council Planning website - 726 objections, 311 support comments. 70% against the current golf course plan, 30% in favour.

NEWS FLASH - 10 May 2023 - The previous admirable positivity of the Communities4Coul Facebook messaging seems to have lost discipline as their story has lurched to a focus on the objectors. As they loudly announce, objectors NotCoul have distributed a news-sheet to homes in Dornoch, Embo, Brora and Golspie. And, unhelpfully for the golf project, as the C4C tone becomes more confrontational, the first planning application's more toxic and discredited support has resurfaced.

NEWS FLASH - 5 May 2023 - NatureScot comment published on Highland Council planning website. "We therefore object to this proposal as it will result in unavoidable adverse effects on natural heritage interests of national importance." "If the planning authority intends to grant planning permission against this advice, you must notify Scottish Ministers."

So the Highland councillors on the North Planning Applications Committee will have to decide whether they yet again burden taxpayers with the expense of kicking this can down the road to Scottish Ministers.

NEWS FLASH - 4 May 2023 - Of 986 public comments so far published on the Highland Council Planning website, 669 (67.8%) are objections. In a Northern Times article of 1 May, Communities for Coul prefer to zoom in on the local area, claiming that 129 support comments have been submitted by people from Dornoch Firth communities - "The figures clearly show a genuine enthusiasm locally for our plans". This "genuine enthusiasm" represents a retreat from the always incredible claims of "unequivocal support" claimed in the communities4coul.scot website. 129 supporters make up less than 2% of voters in Dornoch Firth communities - not a great return on the Communities for Coul spend on door drops to every address, press ads and online encouragement all instructing local people on how to submit their support.

NEWS FLASH - 4 May 2023 - At a presentation to a public meeting organised by Dornoch Community Council, Community for Coul's environmental consultant Dr McMullen suggested that the combined expertise of RSPB Scotland, The National Trust for Scotland, The Scottish Wildlife Trust, Plantlife, Buglife, The Marine Conservation Society and Butterfly Conservation might be of less value to an assessment of Coul Links than his personal expertise. Surprisingly, at the Public Local Inquiry into the first Coul Links golf course proposal, Dr McMullen failed to present a sufficiently persuasive case for the environmental benefits of a golf course cut through a SSSI. 

NEWS FLASH - 20 April 2023 - Would-be Coul Links golf developer Mike Keiser's plans for ownership of a Highland Coast golf destination gradually emerge into the daylight. In a support comment submitted to Highland Council Planning published today, the owner of Pitcalzean Farm, Nigg, a site subject to a planning application for a golf course in 2021, reveals that Mr Keiser was the developer behind that application. The likelihood of Mr Keiser's invovement was flagged-up in our news story of 25 April 2021 (see News Archive). The Nigg application was sadly stymied by zoning problems - the site would have hosted a dramatically good golf course.

With the acquisition of Castle Stuart, the rebranding as Cabot Highlands and the addition of a second course, Mr Keiser has the first piece of his golf destination in place. Proximity to Royal Dornoch, a legendary influence in Keiser folk-lore, provides the credibility and tradition for the marketing. More pieces are needed to provide critical mass - with Nigg having disappointed, a Coore & Crenshaw course at Coul Links starts to look like a necessity.

The question is then, "Where next?". The pitch to the existing, long-established, local golf clubs is that Coul Links will bring enhanced visitor revenue for neighbouring clubs. It is very easy to see quite the opposite happening. Visiting golfers drawn by Royal Dornoch play their second round, or second day's golf, at Coul Links rather than at Brora or Tain. With much reduced visitor revenue, those existing clubs become non-viable. Some high quality, historically interesting golf real estate becomes available at a knock-down price and Mr Keiser has control of his golf destination.

And Keiser destinations are funded by accommodation - local providers are left to pick up the crumbs. As the Cabot Highlands General Manager said, "you're coming back, eating our food, sleeping in our beds, and drinking our wine. It's masterful".

NEWS FLASH - 15 April 2023 - The Highland Council planning website now gives a new Standard Consultation Expiry Date of 12 May (moved from 9 April) which suggests that there is more time for the public to send comments of support or objection. The Highland Council Ecology Team has been added to the list of consultees.

NEWS FLASH - 30 March 2023 - After engaging with the developer prior to the Coul Links golf course planning application, a 'Conservation Coalition' of seven environmental organisations - Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, Marine Conservation Society, The National Trust for Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust - has re-entered the debate, calling for the public's help again to save Coul Links. https://www.buglife.org.uk/news/conservation-coalition-calls-for-publics-help-again-to-save-coul-links/    https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/scotland/posts/save-coul-links-why-we-will-be-objecting-again

Meanwhile, planning applicant Communities for Coul has distributed a 4 page printed brochure, "Coul Times" to local addresses calling for support comments to The Highland Council. https://www.communities4coul.scot/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Copy-of-Digital-or-Traditional-Tabloid-Template-%E2%80%93-289mm-x-380mm.pdf

NEWS FLASH - 20 March 2023 - Quoted in an article in Links Magazine, Cabot Highlands (was Castle Stuart) General Manager Stuart McColm said "If you're staying with us for the week, a five-night stay, you're going to play the two courses at least once. You're also going to play Nairn, Dornoch, Fortrose, Brora, and others potentially. We want to take control of all of that. You stay with us and, and if you want to go for a tee time at Dornoch, we'll take you and pick you up. Because you're coming back, eating our food, sleeping in our beds, and drinking our wine. It's masterful". Cabot is associated with prospective Coul Links developer Mike Keiser.

NEWS FLASH - 17 March 2023 - Very contrasting public comments listed today in the Highland Council planning portal. The certainty of an "era of some prosperity" from Councillor McGillivray https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=neighbourComments&keyVal=RPM8MCIHGB800 and a more forensic assessment from Peter Batten and Denise Lloyd https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/files/8A5AE85983B4AEE3C89F54ECB533AEE5/pdf/23_00580_FUL-Peter_Batten___Denise_Lloyd-2975655.pdf

NEWS FLASH - 17 March 2023 - A number of local and national media outlets have picked up the story of renewed opposition from Ramblers Scotland to the Coul Links golf plan. The organisation has a petition live at www.ramblers.org.uk/coullinks 

NEWS FLASH - 10 March 2023 - The Highland Council has placed a notice in The Northern Times announcing the planning application for a golf course at Coul Links. Comments supporting or opposed to the golf course have to be submitted within 28 days of the publication date. Representations can be made online at http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/ (application reference 23/00580/FUL) or by writing to The Head of Planning and Building Standards, ePlanning Centre, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX. (See notice in Documents section below.)

NEWS FLASH - 1 March 2023 - A planning application for a golf course and accompanying infrastructure at Coul Links was validated by The Highland Council on 28 February. Details and all documents submitted to date are available at https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/ with the reference 23/00580/FUL.

NEWS FLASH - 22 February 2023 - The Highland Council has granted planning consent for the first phase of a hotel at Coul Links. See https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QTTOG0IHIR700&activeTab=summary 

The Northern Times reports that "Edward Abel Smith, who owns the site and heads Coul Enterprises, the company behind the ambitious luxury eco hotel initiative, has said the project is entirely reliant on planning permission being granted for the golf course". (The planning application was made by agents on behalf of Mr Abel Smith who is not listed with Companies House as a director of Coul Enterprises Limited.) The applicant has declared that hotel and golf course are linked applications. So, with the golf course application yet to be validated, it seems strange that the hotel application has been granted so soon.

NEWS FLASH - 9 February 2023 - Via a Northern Times article published at 11.27, Communities for Coul announces submission to The Highland Coucil of a planning application for a golf course at Coul Links. A C4C post at 13.32 confirms the submission. The text published by The Northern Times is reproduced in other media outlets (see links below). It is suggested that mowing the vegetation/habitats within a Site of Special Scientific Interest down to 15-25mm does not constitute development and is somehow beneficial to the natural environment. Good news for SSSIs everywhere.

The planning application lands as The Scottish Government is due, next week, to adopt National Planning Framework 4. NPF4 is intended to answer questions such as, "how can planning best support our quality of life, health and wellbeing in the future? (by building golf courses for wealthy American tourists) and "what policies are needed to improve, protect and strengthen the special character of our places? (golf courses to be built on Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest).

Rather confusingly the Communities for Coul "Planning Latest" web page reports that the "formal Planning Application" was submitted on 3rd September. Two paragraphs later it states that "we were free to submit our formal application" only after a consultation period that ended on 11th September.

Coul Links golf course current proposal

Also see News Archive. The company fronting the proposal has an online presence at  https://www.communities4coul.scot and https://www.facebook.com/Communities4Coul/ For an alternative reading visit https://notcoul.org and https://www.facebook.com/groups/266150027087512/?mibextid=HsNCOg

After a local councillor made a shambolic attempt to resurrect the original golf course scheme, with added par 3 course, in Autumn 2020, a more concerted effort to relaunch the project surfaced in January 2021 with the publication of https://www.communities4coul.scot. Communities for Coul, a private limited company registered in Scotland, suggests that Brexit and Covid have changed the economic climate to such an extent that the benefits will outweigh any environmental concerns and further that the new golf course proposal “is now an environmental project with a golf course at its heart".

A week later the owner of Coul Farm announced his intention to build a hotel overlooking the links – construction to be started when the golf course receives planning approval.

In April 2021, Communities for Coul announced that Mike Keiser, the developer behind the original golf course plan, had been “selected” to build the revived golf course, funding the project should planning consent be granted.

Communities for Coul proceeded to stage a postal ballot and series of tightly managed online question and answer sessions to establish a narrative of consultation and public support. Meanwhile The Scottish Government’s Dynamic Coast project mapped areas of coastal flooding where the golf course is to be routed and forecast that the dune edge would retreat inland by up to 93 metres this century. Meanwhile Foveran Links in Aberdeenshire, home to Trump International Scotland golf course, of which Donald Trump said “this will be environmentally better after it is built than it is before”, lost its Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status due to irreparable damage - extravagant promises of local jobs have never materialised. Parallels will inevitably be drawn.

Having declared that the original layout was the only one available at Coul Farm for a “world-class” golf course, Coore and Crenshaw have made modifications to their routing to make small concessions to specific environmental concerns and adopted the mowing of existing vegetation to create fairways. 

A scoping application was submitted to The Highland Council in March 2022 with the aim to “file a planning application in 2022 and start work on the project in 2023”. Communities for Coul appealed for £150,000 of crowdfunding to meet the costs of expert support (a target reportedly reached on 26 September 2022). A Proposal of Planning Application Notice (PAN) was submitted on 19 June 2022.

Also in June, Cabot, a company associated with Mike Keiser, acquired Castle Stuart golf course near Inverness, renaming it Cabot Highlands and announcing plans for a second course and accommodation on site. Communities for Coul published the opinion that its chosen developer’s plans for Cabot Highlands would have “a significant negative economic impact on the towns and villages of the Dornoch Firth” so Coul Links, from the same developer, was needed as a counterbalance to prevent “very bad news”.

The aim to submit a planning application for Coul Links in 2022 was not met. However, with Cabot Highlands, Mike Keiser has put the first piece in place for a new Highland golf coast destination - as the Cabot Highlands' website https://cabothighlands.com depicts it, "Cabot's first UK property in its diverse collection of world-class golf and master-planned communities". Communities for Coul, a limited company perhaps misleadingly referred to in press coverage as a "community group', announced on 9 February 2023 that a planning application for Coul Links has been submitted. The deadline for public comments on the application is 12 May 2023.

There are two online petitions to "Save Coul Links". One is still live from the first planning application and currently has attracted more than 93,800 signatures https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/conserve-coul-links-for-nature-not-golf-1  The second is specific to the new planning application  and has already gained more than 24,100 signatures towards its 25,000 target https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-coul-links-protected-nature-from-destructive-deja-vu-golf-course-1