The conversion of a golf course into a nature site has been given the green light.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee agreed this afternoon to grant a 15-year lease with a peppercorn rent to Beacon Hill Nature Reserve to transform Rottingdean Pitch and Putt course.

Friends of Beacon Hill announced they had secured £25,000 of private funding to help establish the project on the subject that they were granted a minimum lease of seven years.

The site has been empty for more than two years and was recently occupied by squatters.