LIPHOOK Golf Club has defended ‘cash and caddie’ claims made by the national press, after receiving £43,340 in EU subsidies through Brussels’ controversial Agricultural Fund.

Managing secretary John Douglass and course manager David Murdoch put the record straight stating the money was a grant from the Rural Payment Agency to maintain the heathland on the course, after Natural England had endorsed their application.

Mr Murdoch said: “We entered into an environmental stewardship agreement after being approached by the South Downs National Park Authority to manage associated environments within Liphook Golf Club, which lies in the national park.

“The area has been a heathland site for 150 years, but 80 per cent of heath has been lost over the years.

“The heathland site development, which involves taking some large trees out as well as the management of the heathland habitat, is controlled management to re-establish heathland, which we have conducted with club money in the past.

“Three years ago we applied for a grant to Natural England, which was approved. The money was not given – and has not been used – to manage the greens, but was used for ecological management away from the golf course, as well as woodland management by reintroducing heather and taking out some of the woodland.

“We started almost three years ago. It has taken time to reintroduce the heathland and encourage heath growth. We have taken out bigger trees, planted new trees, put back indigenous hedgerows, all by following the guidelines laid out in the environmental stewardship agreement.”

Mr Douglass added: “There are bees on the course and we encourage them through our ecological management. We provide a good habitat for the bees and have been harvesting spring flower honey as well as heather honey in the autumn.

“We were given this money to help manage the woodland, to improve and enhance the area, to improve the heathland and the environment within the national park.”

Mr Murdoch confirmed the work should be completed by the end of October and there will be ongoing maintenance to the heathland.

“This is an ongoing project and we will continue to make improvements to the endangered heathland in the future,” he added.

“Areas that have been reclaimed will be managed by us, something we have done for many years. Liphook Golf Club has made a commitment to continue the stewardship into the future.

“It will always be work in progress. We did not begin this regeneration management with the EU money we received, and it will not end there.”

In 2004, Liphook Golf Club received the English Golf Environment Award in recognition of their commitment to ecological good practice from the English Golf Union in conjunction with English Nature.

Golf courses are reported to have received nearly £1m in EU subsidies in the past two years.

Fifty-four payments were paid to organisations last year from Brussel’s agricultural funds, totalling £406,794 and 74 hand-outs worth £555,000 in 2014.

Payments from the Common Agriculture Policy to Britain are expected to average around £3bn per year under the current deal.