A proposal to build a youth centre at Colden Common, near Winchester, will be presented to residents on Monday.

The project is being spearheaded by the village's Scout group, which is currently homeless.

They have used Colden Common Methodist Church Hall since the old parish hall closed last year.

Derek Conway chairs the 9th Winchester (Colden Common) Scout Group, which has around 60 members. He said they were grateful for the use of the church hall, but it was too cramped to be a permanent home.

The group is now calling for a purpose-built youth centre, which may cost between £250,000 and £500,000. The building would be made available to all residents.

"What we need is a robust hall, somewhere the children can charge up and down and bounce off the walls without doing any damage," said Mr Conway.

He added that using the community centre in St Vigor Way was impossible because of the layout and because regular bookings could not be made.

The community centre's popularity is one of the reasons why the 90-year-old parish hall closed.

Developers bought it and the hall's trustees now control a fund of between £200,000 and £250,000.

Michael Biddle, who chairs the group of 11 trustees, said: "The parish hall was a village charity and, as such, the money that we have can only go to another village charity."

He added that if the Scout group wanted to apply for funds to build a youth centre, they would need to find a site. They would also have to create a charitable organisation to run the proposed building, said Mr Biddle.

Mr Conway said they planned to approach the trustees for financial help, along with local authorities, sports societies and the National Lottery.

"The problem is we haven't got a piece of land," he said.

Cecily Sutton represents Colden Common on Winchester City Council and she is also a parish council member. She said both authorities were searching for a possible site for the youth centre.

"No stone is being left unturned. We are looking everywhere," she added.

Next Thursday, city council leader Sheila Campbell will chair a meeting at Winchester Guildhall to address the matter.

City and parish council members, Scout representatives and county education officers will meet behind closed doors to discuss where the centre could be built.

Before that, at 8pm on Monday, the Scout group is inviting Colden Common residents to a meeting at the community centre to discuss the youth centre proposal and to gauge public support.