A dinosaur-themed adventure golf course is coming to Harrow after it was given the green light by the council's planning committee.
The 18-hole course will be built next to the Roger Bannister Sports Centre, in Uxbridge Road, and is targeted at families in the borough.
Despite clear objections from neighbours and opposition councillors, Harrow Council 's planning committee decided that these new leisure opportunities were too good to turn down.
It will feature four dinosaur props - up to seven metres in height and complete with roaring sounds - and new parking facilities.
Cllr Stephen Greek was fiercely opposed to the plans, which will encroach onto green belt land and what he described as "Harrow's heritage".
He criticised the impact on the neighbouring roads - claiming that the development would be a distraction to cars - and pointed out that there is a similar course less than four miles away.
"This proposal is so inappropriate that I don't know how it even saw the light of day," he said.
"This site is key to our heritage and it's not been treated sensitively at all. The sense of openness there will be forever disrupted if this comes into effect.
"If we as a planning committee can't put up a basic level of defence for our green belt land then what are we even doing here?
"We're not representing our residents well and we are making a fundamental mistake."
He also took issue with the dinosaur noises, dismissing the idea that they will not impact on neighbouring properties.
But Labour councillors Cllr Kiran Ramchandani and Cllr Ajay Maru backed the scheme, arguing that it will "bring the community together".
"We are a borough full of young families and this will be ideal for them," Cllr Ramchandani said.
"There are limited leisure activities in Harrow and this centre will give people, particularly young people, something to do."
More of the latest west London stories
Cllr Keith Ferry, deputy leader of the council, agreed and said it will be a great use of a "scrubby bit of land that has sat around for years not doing much".
The scheme was pushed through by the committee's vice-chairman, Cllr Ghazanfar Ali, who used his deciding vote to approve it after it was deadlocked at three-three.
