BOSSES of an annual summer show want to build a new road to avoid a repeat of last year's muddy disaster.

Hundreds of vehicles were stuck in the mud as the car park at the New Forest and Hampshire County Show became a quagmire following heavy rain.

Now organisers say the answer is a new road into the site ahead of this year's event, being staged at the end of July.

It would mean the thousands of cars parking up in the field at New Park, Brockenhurst, would drive in on Tarmac instead of grass.

Following last year's failed attempts by the show's organisers to gain planning permission for a £5m education centre on the site, this year they are hoping to get permission for the new access road and to refurbish derelict buildings.

Under the plans, which are due to be decided by the New Forest National Park Authority in March, a former mill building and Victorian cow sheds would be transformed into offices to be rented out to local businesses.

There would also be a permanent car park created for 21 cars and three coaches, and a stone-covered Tarmac road leading into the site from the Bucklands entrance on the A337. The public uses this entrance at the annual show.