THE FUTURE of Netley's former village police station in New Road is set to be thrashed out at a public inquiry in June.

Hampshire police have appealed to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions against Eastleigh council's failure to determine a planning application for premises within eight weeks.

The station was closed early in 2001 in a shake-up of policing in Eastleigh's southern parishes.

Villagers staged a long-running campaign to keep the police base open after a question mark was placed against its future - and the campaign was backed by Hound Parish Council and Eastleigh council's Bursledon, Hamble and Hound local area committee.

The station's fate as a police base was sealed in March 2001 after police said it was uneconomic to refurbish the building and the public rarely visited it.

They also argued that combining officers from Hedge End and Netley had resulted in better police cover for the southern parishes.

The decision was met with dismay by Eastleigh council leader Keith House who said he believed the police authority had handled the situation badly.

Hound Parish Council chiefs warned it was the wrong time to close the station when the area was plagued by vandalism.

Last April Hampshire police applied for planning permission to build a two-storey rear extension and change the use of the building - dating from the 1920s - into five two-bedroom homes with parking for eight cars.

A police spokesman confirmed that the constabulary would sell the building and the money would be put back into the "operational policing budget."

It is that plan which will be the subject of an appeal hearing conducted by a government-appointed inspector at Eastleigh council's Civic Offices on June 18.