A DEVELOPER has unveiled plans for more than 100 homes and a sports centre on the edge of a Hampshire town.

Foreman Homes’ scheme to build 116 homes and a leisure centre on the outskirts of Romsey comes just two years after a Government planning inspector rejected an appeal by Glowfern Ltd for 59 homes on neighbouring land.

The inspector ruled that the green gap between Romsey and North Baddesley should be retained.

Despite this, Foreman says it will submit a planning application to Test Valley Borough Council next month.

The application site is owned by the Edom Trust and covers about 23 acres, including land leased by Hampshire County Council as a depot.

Steve Carrington, Foreman’s planning director, said the development would be a mix of one-, two-, threeand four-bedroom properties and it was envisaged that 46 of the 116 homes would be “affordable”. He added that it would create dozens of construction jobs over a two-year period.

A £3m indoor sports centre with 78 parking spaces is also part of the scheme. There would be two main sports halls catering for football, hockey, netball, tennis, badminton, bowls, basketball and volleyball, plus a third much smaller building for offices, toilets, classrooms and refreshments. Mr Carrington claimed that the sports facility would create between 30 and 50 part-time and full-time jobs.

Opponents of the plan include Romsey MP Caroline Nokes, who said: “I regard this as an entirely speculative application, in an area which has always been an important gap between settlements.”