Security Upgrade Proposal 0415

Security Upgrade Plan
March 2015
Following lengthy discussions with the Police, who have provided detailed and
comprehensive advice on a range of practical options to improve security around the
clubhouse and car park, we have costed and identified final priorities, balancing these
against what we believe to be achievable and workable.
1. Car Park and boundary security.
a.
GATES: The principal aim is to discourage unwanted vehicle access during
the day and prevent it overnight. Although a degree of overnight security could be
achieved with manual gates and a simple lock system, Police advice is that these
gates can be breached within minutes by determined criminals with the right
equipment. Our preference is for automatic sliding gates, 1.8m high, which have
the added benefit of being safer to ‘deadlock’ remotely by staff leaving late at night.
Our chosen contractor is Clear Image Systems Ltd, of Bradford. They have installed
security barriers for a number of golf clubs, including Stratford-on-Avon. Cost:
£14,775.
This includes all statutory safety equipment. (See Point A in the picture on next
page)
Style of Sliding Cantilever Gates (The example shown is single; ours will be a pair, painted dark blue,
adorned with the Club Crest and ‘Welcome’ signage
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The entry gate would open automatically as a car approaches. The exit gate has
either member card or digital keypad control, as with locker room access. There
would be a central island to house the control points. (See picture for approximate
position below). Manual override controls will be positioned within clubhouse and
Golf Shop, so that the entry gate may be left open at busy times. Some reconfiguration of the entrance roadway will be required.
b. ENTRANCE FENCING: The Police recommendation is to open the view to the car
park and improve line of sight between the main road and the clubhouse. We
will first look to use our existing hedge as a boundary, as it is secure against
vehicles. The short section (red line marked B) will be reduced in height to find
out if the remaining hedge plants retain a good aesthetic look. At the line D, the
boundary will be strengthened in due course by moving earth. Trees on the
north side of the entrance, point E, will be reduced in height to open up the
approach.
C
A
E
B
D
a. OTHER PERIMETER FENCING: clearly, it is impossible to secure the entire
boundary of the golf course against pedestrian access. The vulnerable area is
adjacent to the car park, where we propose to install weld-mesh fencing in a
style similar to the picture below. Although pictured green, the fencing will be
powder-coat painted dark blue.
This is effective and relatively inexpensive, and will be installed as indicated by
the yellow line in the overhead picture above, to a height of 1.8m (6ft). (Points
C). The cost is £3,000.
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Weld-mesh fencing (V-Mex)
All gates and fencing will be powder coat painted in a dark blue, similar to the background
colour of the Club’s flag.
2. Rear of Clubhouse
Because improved security is needed before work on repairing the buggies can start,
work will commence very soon to upgrade the security of the rear compound, restricting
access to the principle point of out-of-hours entry and improving security of the buggies
and the oil tank. The proposal is to supplement existing wooden fencing by installing
weld-mesh fencing to a height of 2.4m overall (8ft). The fencing will be founded on steel
posts, not bolted to the existing timber fence, and positioned as shown below.
A new fence and lockable entrance gate will provide a secure compound for the buggies,
and the existing wooden gates replaced by weld-mesh gates and a gold-standard manual
locking system, in line with Police advice. We will also improve security to the rear of
the clubhouse by adding weld-mesh fencing to the side of the shoe-cleaning area. The
height of the gates and additional fencing will be lower than the current height of the
hedge, so will not be intrusive. Cost: £3,358.
The picture below shows the approximate positions of the new features. Although
Police recommendation is to add steel fencing along the length of the existing hedge, we
believe this to be too visually intrusive so will continue to rely on the hedge itself as a
strong internal boundary.
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3.
Intruder Alarms and Protection of Buildings
a. Without going into too much detail about this, our existing alarm system is to be
upgraded to current industry standards, both for the clubhouse and
greenkeeper’s buildings. There will be activated Police call-out with suitable
protections built in against false activation by small animals or birds. Our chosen
contractor will be PJ Alarms of Leicester, a local company with national reach.
We also retain the services of a local 1st Response team, who currently patrol on
an ad hoc basis with dogs, and attend whenever there is an alarm activation.
b. CCTV. A latest standard HD camera will be installed in a vandal-resistant
housing in the car park, using existing infrastructure. It will capture high quality
images of faces and vehicles, day and night, with appropriate warning signs
displayed. Total for 2a & b: £4,615.
4. Other considerations
Provision of power and other data-capture lines will be required to get to the gate, and
certain ‘civil’ works, such as realignment of the roadway, concreting and making good
will be needed. These works have not been formally costed, but we add estimated sums
to cover this work. Hedge removal will be carried out by the Greenkeepers through
worked overtime (so as not to disrupt course management work during the rapid
springtime growth. We budget up to £6,000 for these works.
Summary
Improving security is, we conclude, a given. However, the Club does not hold unlimited
resources and the total cost of implementing all Police recommendations would be in
the order of £60,000 +VAT. We don’t believe that level of investment is realistic so the
proposed scheme is a compromise. The costs are summarised below.
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£
Gates & Fencing - Perimeter
Gates, incl. traffic island, ducting and power supply
14,775
Other steel fencing
3,000
Rear of Clubhouse
Supplementary Fencing & Buggy Compound & steel gates
Alarm Upgrade & CCTV
Total Sum, using existing car park tower
Civil Works
Concreting
Change of roadway entrance
Other Power Supply
Hedge removal & other Contingency
Total Cost
VAT
Total
3,358
4,615
2,000
1,000
500
2,500
31,748
6,350
38,098
Some of the VAT will be recoverable.
Funding
We have already flagged the point that the Club does not possess cash reserves, nor is
likely to generate these in the foreseeable future. This challenge is for all of us – it’s our
club, our assets and the work is needed to protect our future. Spread amongst all of us,
the costs involved are, we believe, realistic, but only fair if all members support it. The
cost does not go down 10% if only 90% of members pay! In order to issue contracts to
get this work underway, we have to be certain that members will support the funding
request, so we urge all of you to pay in accordance with the invoice about to be issued,
as soon as possible.
Your Responsibility to Pay
 The Special Funding Charge is due and payable immediately, and not later than
31st March. We trust all members to honour this commitment to safeguarding
the club and carpark.
 ALL Playing members (except those listed below) are required to pay £80 each
 Juniors are exempt and have no liability to pay
 Those members aged 19-24, country & overseas members, Social & non-playing
members and members of the Flexible Membership Scheme are required to pay
£40.
 If this request causes any member financial hardship, please contact any of the
directors (contact details below) as soon as possible to discuss.
David Smith –
governance@mhgolf.co.uk
John Bush –
harboroughgolf@aol.com
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Simon Lindley –
simon.lindley@btinternet.com
Pat Hampson –
pathampson@sky.com
Arthur Price-Jones –
thepricejones@aol.com
Gary Lunt –
marketing@mhgolf.co.uk
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