As the council debated a motion calling for an alternative site to be considered for a pitch and putt, to replace Basingstoke Golf Centre, which is due to be transformed into a water park and hotel by Great Wolf Resorts, rather than Down Grange.

A total of 17 councillors joined the debate on Wednesday, October 16 , with Cllr Tony Jones raising safety concerns about the proposals, which do not include a boundary fence.

He said: “I don’t know how you can run a pitch and putt without a fence because by Christ, if you get me in there, someone will die, because I’m not that safe.

How the pitch and putt might look(Image: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council)

“With all that money, surely we can buy a reasonable place, even if we have to buy the land. We’ve got Manydown, we haven’t built on that yet, so it might be an idea to use it.”

Cllr Gary Watts added: “It’s a recipe for disaster when you have people walking around the perimeter, or people walking their dogs, and people are playing golf.

“The golf balls are going to fly everywhere, and when we went to the consultation, they said we’re only going to have nets by the house.

“We’ve not had a risk assessment, so we’ve got the A30 adjacent as well, so we have golf balls potentially hitting residents walking their dogs, running, just doing their day-to-day business and we’ve got a busy road nearby.

” I just don’t think the council has looked at this properly.”

Cllr Paul Basham responded to these concerns, saying: “These are low-velocity golf balls.

“That’s all I’ve ever been allowed to use at the existing pitch and putt facility. Cllr Jones, I appreciate you may hit the ball quite hard, but they are low-velocity balls, I think you made a joke.

“What I would say, though, is that golf courses generally do destroy green habitat and I think you were a member of Basingstoke Golf Club and all of the members got quite a nice capital receipt down there.

“So I would say, don’t hit your golf balls too close to the Down Grange glass house.”