A LAST minute bid will be made to stop leading councillors closing Basildon Golf Course.

London Golf Management, who have been running the course since June 2011, are putting a plan to Basildon Council tonight in an effort to keep the course open after June 30.

The firm claim the plan to run the course won’t cost council taxpayers a penny, and have revealed that they will be run the golf course at no extra cost between July and October.

Operations manager Joe James said: “To close the course would be a disaster. We will be showing the council our ten-year plan to make the golf course what it once was. It is definitely good enough and is very close to the town centre. It should be kept open.”

The course is to close after council bosses were unable to agree a deal with a firm to keep it open. Seventy-five bids were made by interested parties to keep it open, but as none of those companies could take on the golf course without council subsidies a deal could not be struck.

Mr James has been working on the plan with the firm’s director James Anderson. The plan has the backing of the chairman of the Friends of Basildon Golf Course, Mick Toomer.

He said: “The fact that nobody submitted an acceptable tender in line with the formal tender documents would suggest that the terms may have been unrealistic, or that unnecessary obstacles were placed in the way. Let us hope that there are no hidden agendas, and that the cabinet members reject the proposal to close the golf course and embrace this new opportunity”.

"It is a no-brainer now London Golf Management have said they can run the course until October."

Kevin Blake, Tory councillor responsible for leisure, said: “At the council we never say never. The proposal will be to close the course but we must bear in mind that within a week of it closing, should it close, the chance of returning it its current condition will be very difficult. If something can be done to ensure it stays then great.”