BCP Conservative councillor, Toby Slade, said: “It is the only community golf course in the area.
“Over 8,000 people have voiced their concern … I think it’s a good sign and the people will be heard now.”
He added that the council’s “only option is to let nature take its course and turn it into a lovely area… but there’s a lovely area already there”.
“The golf club could and want to invest in it,” he said. “Why can’t they be left to get on with it?”
Golf For All, which has run the site via a lease since 2003, said 20,000 golfers used the site every year and it was a “viable business”.
It said it believed Solent Meads should stay open as a golf course, whether it runs it or a new operator takes over.
