The St Regis resort has reopened its golf course after being assured that residents involved in a land dispute with the hotel will not disrupt play.

The resort in St George closed the course on Wednesday, claiming that the safety of golfers was at risk owing to the “threatening attitude” of local residents who were blocking golf carts from driving along a path that runs through a private property.

That allegation was denied by an attorney for the owner of the property.

Phil Perinchief, representing Gardene Gibbons, said the claim “holds little if any water”.

He added: “My client, who is 81, has threatened no one.

“I personally witnessed two golf carts and a government Works and Engineering truck only this morning passing through the subject golf cart carriageway whilst I was on site.

“The closing of this resort is entirely at the discretion, and initiation, of St. Regis and Hotelco. To what end is unclear at the moment.”

Yesterday. a spokeswoman for Hotelco claimed that the resort had obtained footage of golfers being threatened, but had made the decision to reopen the course.

She also acknowledged that the company had been unaware of any “third-party rights” when it leased the property from the Government

The spokeswoman said: “The golf course has reopened after the St. Regis Hotel received formal assurance from the government and the legal counsel for the Gibbons family that there will be no action that would impede the functioning of the golf course.

“We support the efforts of the Government and the Gibbons family to reach an agreement in this dispute.

“Hotelco is just a tenant, to whom a leasehold was granted without any notice of the existence of any third-party rights that could affect the long-established traffic of golf carts.

“Nevertheless, Hotelco will continue working with both parties in facilitating a solution to this regrettable situation.

“We have footage evidencing that golf players and employees of St Regis were prevented in threatening manner from passing through.

“A party of US guests — a father with his daughter and son — were the first ones to be forced to turn back. This caused considerable bewilderment and distress among the affected guests.

“After the blockade continued, the management of the hotel decided to close the golf course for the safety of the guests and the employees.”

The dispute centres on a right of access to Mrs Gibbons’s property on Secretary Lane.

When the course first opened as a public facility run by the Government in the 1980s, Mrs Gibbons and her late husband, Shirley, agreed to allow a golf cart path to run through their property.

In return, area residents were permitted access to their homes through an alternative route on Somner Lane, which is a private estate road rather than a public road.

That informal arrangement worked for almost 40 years — until Hotelco took over the running of the course in 2021.

The company objected to local residents driving through the course and successfully applied to the Department of Planning to erect barbed wire fences across two roads to prevent vehicular traffic from getting through.

In a tit-for-tat move earlier this year, Mr and Mrs Gibbons erected bollards across the stretch of golf cart path that runs through their property. The obstruction was swiftly destroyed by two unidentified men the following morning.

Yesterday Mr Perinchief confirmed that negotiations had recommenced.

He told The Royal Gazette: “The parties are back at the negotiating table with a view to an expeditious and fair result for all concerned.

“I think it is important to bear in mind, however, that these are quite understandably complex, tense and intense negotiations on very difficult issues of fact and law, some historically so.