DEVELOPERS have launched a new attempt to build homes on the former site of a Hampshire pub that was destroyed in a fire.

F B Estates has lodged an appeal after the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) rejected proposals to redevelop land which was occupied by the Flying Boat Inn.

The site at Calshot Road, Calshot, has been derelict since the pub was demolished in 2001 after a major blaze.

F B Estates's application to build seven homes on the land was refused by the NPA in 2019 after members heard that new housing in Forest villages was normally allowed only in Ashurst, Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Sway.

A similar proposal submitted by the same applicant was turned down in February last year and is now the subject of an appeal.

A report to NPA members said: "Irrespective of whether the site is defined as brownfield or greenfield, the proposal is clearly contrary to recently adopted policies relating to new residential development. To grant planning permission would set a dangerous precedent."

The scheme had been backed by Fawley Parish Council and the authority also received a 100-name petition supporting the application.

Cllr Alexis McEvoy, a district and county councillor for Fawley, spoke in support of the proposal.

She told the NPA's planning committee: “This development is sensitive to its surroundings. It has the support of Fawley Parish Council and will be welcomed by local residents.

“It will add much-needed vibrancy to the village. Frankly the site is an eyesore – a blot on the landscape. This is such an opportunity.”

A design statement which formed part of the application said the farmyard-style layout aimed to reflect the site's semi-rural setting.

It added: "The proposals present a smaller footprint and a less dominant development than the Flying Boat Inn and a reduction in scale compared to the previous proposals."

But planning officer Steve Avery said: “This application goes against every policy we have in the local plan. It couldn’t be simpler than that.”

The Flying Boat Inn was only a short distance from the former RAF Calshot, now Calshot Activities Centre, and was an officers' mess before becoming a pub.

It closed in the late 1990s and was demolished after a fire ripped through the building a few years later.