Walsall's municipal golf course is to close

The only municipal golf course in Walsall is poised to permanently close - and be converted into an urban forest.

Hopes of reopening The Grange are to be dashed after Walsall Council failed to attract a suitable operator to take over.

It was thought that the nine-hole golf course at the Walsall Arboretum Extension could be revived after leisure chiefs sought private firms to step in.

The green closed in January because of budget cuts and outside companies were invited to step in to run it earlier this year.

A report was due to go before the decision-making Cabinet this week but has been withdrawn from the agenda.

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird today confirmed they would now be looking to create a woodland area in its place.

The site off Broadway North has become overgrown and the authority is now due to approach the Forest of Mercia about the idea.

"We are looking at turning it into an urban forest," Councillor Bird said. "We want to make it an extension to the Arboretum for all people to enjoy.

"There was no great interest in reopening it as a golf course. It is sad but there were people who were abusing it and using the course without paying."

Council chiefs said they were losing £36,000 a year on the course at the Arboretum Extension and it had been planned to close in summer 2009.

But the authority agreed to keep it open longer to find a successful business plan. Ideas to save the course included an increase in green fees of up to 40 per cent but these were eventually scrapped.

About 13,000 people used the golf course each year but a petition failed to persuade a council U-turn.

An urban forest will fit in with £7.9 million transformation plans for the Arboretum including a new visitor centre, cafe and bandstand.