Fifty jobs will be created at a new £2 million golf course to be built in Essington, it was revealed today.

Work on Essington Golf Club, an 80-acre development on derelict land off Bursnips Road, will see a nine-hole golf course and clubhouse created to sit in the middle of 30,000 new trees and shrubs.

The new jobs will include groundsmen and managers and it is hoped the club will be open by 2010.

Councillor David Clifft, chairman of Essington Parish Council, said: “It’s an exciting time for the area and I hope when all this work is complete we are standing here in two years time in the newly-constructed clubhouse with a glass of champagne in our hands.

“As well as the work that is being created for the contractors behind the project, 50 new jobs will be created for people to work on the golf course when it opens.

“We are talking skilled jobs here, because the course will need people to maintain the holes as well as provide customer service. It’s a huge investment that is being made.”

Woodfarm Golf & Leisure is behind the course, after it bought the land in February 2006. The course won planning permission in May from South Staffordshire Council.