TAXPAYERS cash is being used to prop up the private firm which has taken over the running of Basildon Golf Course.

Basildon Council is paying £47,000 to Basildon Golf Centre to tide the company over during the winter months.

The firm was planning to make ends meet by charging building firms to dump soil and rubble on the course off Clay Hill Road as part of a plan to recontour it.

But despite winning planning permission for the dumping from Basildon Council in 2007, the company does not yet have the necessary permission or licence to start the dumping.

The latest handout brings the total amount of tax payers’ cash given to the firm, which is part of the Jack Barker group, to at least £184,000.

This includes a £37,000 winter subsidy last year, a £60,000 loan towards building an access road earlier this year, and at least £60,000 unpaid rent since 2007.

The council has also extended a rent-free period for the company until the next financial year.

Friends of Basildon Golf Course is currently locked in a legal battle to overturn the planning permission for the £1million plan to revamp of the course.

They are concerned about the environmental impact of bringing 140,000 tonnes of building soil on to the site to build and recontour the course. The case is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal from October 13.

A council report over the decision states: “The tenant has agreed to continue to delay any importation of material until the outcome of the judicial review.”

It said the council recognises the value of the partnership and, in particular, the tenant’s agreement not to go ahead yet.

The company was unavailable for comment.