WIRRAL councillors have delayed committing £600,000 on consultant and legal fees for its proposed luxury golf resort at Hoylake "for further information".

There is more than enough information available to persuade them to cancel this ill-conceived project without delay.

The proposal involves building on Green Belt land and seriously endangering an area of rich eco-diversity in order to create a luxury resort which can only succeed by attracting rich clients from abroad, thus adding to carbon emissions and global warming.

Golf in Britain, and indeed in the US, is in decline, with courses closing, participants dropping and equipment sales falling.

Wirral and West Cheshire already have nearly 100 golf courses: supply exceeds demand. Such enterprises depend on customers spending their money within the resort, not in local shops and restaurants – the local economy does not benefit significantly, if at all.

Green Belt land is intended to preserve open countryside on a permanent basis, as a "green lung" for towns and cities and to mitigate the damage that unrestricted building inflicts on our natural surroundings.

"Very special circumstances" are needed before building on Green Belt land should be contemplated.

Well-attended public meetings have been almost unanimously opposed to the project. Wirral Council has failed to make a case for this proposal and should drop it before irreparable damage is done.

Jim McGinley, Chairman, Wirral Green Party