MEMBERS of Southampton Transport Club have overwhelmingly voted to accept a £1m offer for their building.

The 800 members now have to decide whether to relocate or divide up the cash and pocket about £1,250 each.

A packed meeting last night heard the outcome of the postal ballot, which clears the way for the sale and redevelopment of the Portswood Bus Depot site.

Sitting in the middle of the Portswood Road site, the club has long been a thorn in the side of proposals to turn the depot into a massive supermarket.

Alternatively, it could accommodate as many as 250 new houses, although no planning application has yet been made.

First Bus offered club members more than double the £400,000 value of the club in order to encourage the members to sell.

Club chairman Cliff Bulbrooke said the exact details of the ballots were a private matter but said the two or three people speaking in favour of rejecting the offer were "very much in the minority".

He added: "It was a packed meeting and the atmosphere was apprehensive. It was a heavy vote in favour of the offer."

He said it was far from clear what members would choose to do now.

"Now we have to find out when they want to vacate. Whether we relocate or split the money is for another meeting and I can't tell you anything about that. I have no idea what they will choose. Some want to keep a place to meet their friends, others want the money.

"It is tinged with sadness. When you put years in to build a place and then suddenly find it's going to go in a few months you are not in a happy mood."

A spokesman for First Bus said: "It is no secret that we have been looking at a relocation in order to invest in more modern premises."

Club officials are to meet First Bus managers in the near future and then there will be a crunch showdown over what to do with the money.