One of the country’s oldest golf clubs is proposing to demolish its clubhouse to provide new state-of-the-art facilities for players and the public.
Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club says the £6million project is needed in order to safeguard it for the future - and is asking councillors to approve five detached homes to help fund it.
The scheme for the club's home at the junction of Ferry Road and Cliff Road would include a new clubhouse and a café, putting green, toilets and viewing platform open to the public.
Part of the Clifflands car park will need to be bought from East Suffolk Council to help enlarge the site to make it big enough for the development.
The club has now applied to the council for permission for the scheme.
The clubhouse has been the home of the club - which was founded in 1880 - for more than a century. Past members include former prime minister AJ Balfour and former open champion Willie Fernie.
In documents submitted to the council, architects Wincer Kievenaar said: "The club's aim is to provide a functional, attractive and efficient clubhouse and facilities fit for the 21st century.
"The current clubhouse is an original farmhouse building, compromised through generations of alterations which does not best serve the needs of its members, or attract new players into the sport.
"The detached shop creates a separation between the clubhouse golfing professional and the members.
"The redevelopment seeks to safeguard the club's medium/long term future now that the current facilities are no longer fit for purpose and at the end of their useful life.
"The proposed clubhouse is the way in which the future of the golf club can be secured, and the proposed five residential dwellings proposed alongside the clubhouse are essential in order to viably enable the clubhouse to be built."
A pre-application meeting was held between the design team and council officers and the project received "positive and constructive feedback",
Consultation is currently taking place a decision will be made in the next few months.
The development will take up four acres of the club's land, which includes two courses either side of the Tomline Wall floodbank on the links between Old Felixstowe and Felixstowe Ferry.
The new public viewing platform at the top of the beach steps will give views across the area, and information about the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here