Barking and Dagenham cabinet members agreed on October 14 to sell Crowlands Heath Golf Course to a company called Homes For Life, which wants to build 1,106 homes on the site.
Labour council leader Dominic Twomey told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the sell-off could “benefit thousands of people” with new ‘affordable’ housing.
However, he said he knew “a few residents” who use the golf course have already objected to the sale.
Two thirds of the golf course is in the London borough of Havering, but it is entirely owned by Barking and Dagenham Council.
The council leases the land to Crowlands Heath Golf Club.
The club only has 79 golfing members at present, however, and Cllr Twomey told the cabinet meeting that it is making a loss.
Homes For Life asked to buy the land from the council after already reaching an agreement with the golf club.
A report presented to the cabinet said that of the 1,106 homes, 60 per cent would be social housing and 40pc for “key workers”, particularly NHS workers.
Around 230 of the homes would be built on the Dagenham side of the site.
The proposals also include a supermarket, a lakeside community space or cafe, and a “green” foot and cycle path through the site.
Homes For Life will still need secure planning permission from both councils before the sale can go ahead.
Cameron Geddes, responsible for regeneration at Barking and Dagenham, told the cabinet he “totally supports” the sale.
He said the development could “bring a lot of families off of the housing waiting list”.
Cllr Geddes said: “We work with most developers, we struggle to get more than about 10pc of properties at social housing levels.
“If we can get 60pc here for ourselves and our colleagues in Havering this will really bring a lot of families off the housing waiting list.”
Cllr Geddes also warned that planning law could be an obstacle to the development if the golf course was considered to be green belt land.
But he said the development would open up the green space to more people.
He said: “For all of golf’s many merits it is a sport that cannot cater for a lot of people for obvious reasons simultaneously unless you get a golf ball bounced off your head.
“So the potential here to actually enlarge people’s access to green fields and green belt land is considerable.”
The council is keeping the proposed sale price confidential. But it says it receives just £2,242 a year in rent from the golf club.
It says the level of rent it receives is “based upon the annual turnover of the golf course” under the terms of the lease agreed in 2000.
Cllr Twomey told the LDRS he didn’t know why the agreement signed in 2000 allowed for such a low level of rent.
He said: “Not being around, I don’t know the process of agreement that got there.
“It seems remarkably low even for 2000. What I do know is the benefits of selling that bit of land will outweigh not selling it.”
