E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to a popular footpath upsetting local dog walkers

Turf on three of the greens at the Shire London Golf Club off St Albans Road has been churned up and damaged by youngsters riding e-bikes on recent evenings.

To prevent further vandalism, several access points to the public footpath around the perimeter of the golf course have been closed off including two well-frequented entry points from the Byng Road playing fields.

Walkers and dogs on leads are still welcome to use the perimeter path around the course but Tony Menai, director of Shire London, told the Barnet Society that malicious damage to the greens was proving costly to repair and could not be tolerated.

“We have eyewitness accounts of how three e-bikes ridden by sixteen and seventeen-year-olds wearing balaclavas have been speeding around the greens purposely cutting deep tracks.

“The Police have advised us that the only way to prevent e-bikes and other vehicles getting on to the course is to close off and secure all the unofficial access points along St Albans Road and along the boundary hedge with Byng Road playing fields.

“People are welcome to walk around the course. They should use the main entrance on St Albans Road and keep their dogs on a lead.”

Geoff Arnett, who walks his dog across the playing fields and who has regularly used one of the access points to the golf course perimeter path, described his shock and outrage at seeing that two eight-foot-deep trenches had been dug across the two access points.

He acknowledged the challenge facing the golf course management over malicious damage but was disappointed there had been no warning, explanation or any kind of consultation.

“The footpath beside the golf course provides a lovely walk to a bluebell wood near Trotters Bottom and a route further on towards St Albans Road and the Green Dragon public house.

“For years now, dog walkers and other people have accessed the footpath from Byng Road playing fields and it can’t be right to deprive us all of access from roads like Byng Road or Cavendish Road.

“It is no answer to say we should access the footpath by the Shire main entrance on the St Albans Road – that’s a mile away and would mean going along a busy main road.”

Mr Arnett said that if unauthorised vehicular access was the problem, a solution might be to provide a kissing gate or stile so that there was access for pedestrians but not for vehicles.

“It is the responsibility of Shire London to secure the golf course and, at the same time, allow access to the footpath.”

In response to complaints about the closure of the playing fields’ access to the footpath, the Barnet Society has notified Barnet Councillors, the Ramblers Association and Hertfordshire County Council’s footpaths department as the golf course is over the Barnet boundary into Hertsmere.

Tony Menai said the damage to the greens caused by the e-bikes was the most persistent and most serious since the club was established in 1994.

“We have been so tolerant over the years and recognise that kids will be kids. There has been vandalism and damage in the past but our success as a club depends on the quality of our 18 green course and our nine academy greens.

“If the greens are going to get churned up like this, it will put the Shire out of business.”

Chris Nightingale, another regular dog walker, promised to look into it further with Hertsmere Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

“One of the conditions of planning permission for the course is that the owners should maintain a public path around the perimeter, from the St Albans Road entrance round to another St Albans Road entry point closer to the Green Dragon.

“Residents in the roads around Byng Road and further afield have always accessed that perimeter path from the Byng Road playing fields and those two entry points should not have been blocked off without at least some consultation with those living in the neighbourhood.”