PLANS for an iconic building to become the new £35m home of Southampton police are set to be given the goahead despite being in a flood risk zone.

City planners are recommending councillors give approval to the scheme tomorrow because they say there is no alternative site less prone to flooding.

The eight storey, 36- metre high landmark building in Southern Road, designed as the new headquarters of the city's police force, will house more than 500 staff including 290 police officers.

But the plans reveal part of the building is in a "medium risk", oncein- two hundred year flood zone.

The Environment Agency decided not to object after a survey by city planners claimed there were "no other available sites of this size in the city centre where there would be less of a risk of flooding".

Development control and conservation planningmanager David Rothery said the pedestrian access and main reception area would fall outside of the flood risk area.

Council planners also dropped the need for an environmental impact assessment after "screening" the plans for any harmful impact on the local area. And they ruled that while the proposals for the site were not in accordance with city plans for business or industrial use, it was not a significant enough "departure" to be sent to the government for approval.

The new HQ and round the clock station is intended to replace Southampton Central Police Station in Havelock Road, doubling cell capacity with an adjoining 42-unit custody suite.

The council's design manager backed the plans saying the "design had been well executed in a modernist architectural style" and had a "sense of authority whilst proving a welcoming face to visitors".

The building, predominantly glazed on both sides with vertical louvres to make it look different depending on where you are in the city, will be made from 1930s stone, similar to that used at the Civic Centre.

It will have a plaza style entrance and more than 150 car park spaces below ground level for police as well as an area for visitors out front.

The major crime department at Hulse Road will move into the building. Bitterne, Portswood and Shirley police stations will remain but some staff will be relocated.

The 1.3-hectare site at the junction of West Quay Road and Mountbatten Way was earmarked in 2005 as the preferred location for a new super police station.

It is owned by the city council but was previously occupied by Norman Offer Haulage Ltd. Building work could start this summer with the aim of being fully operational by 2010.

Brazier Construction, based in Millbrook Road, won the Hampshire Police Authority contract to build the station.