CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating a crucial victory in their battle to ease the desperate shortage of care home places in the New Forest.

Members of New Forest District Council went against the advice of planning officers and approved an application to extend Woodlands House at Netley Marsh.

Previous proposals to expand residential care homes in the Forest have been thrown out on environmental grounds.

However, plans by Woodlands House Ltd to build nine new bedrooms and other facilities at the home were approved by ten votes to six.

The breakthrough could result in similar schemes getting the go-ahead in future.

Calls to approve the Netley Marsh application were led by Brockenhurst councillor Maureen Holding, who has often cited the need to provide extra care home beds in the district. She said: "During the next ten years there will be a nine per cent increase in people aged over 80 years in the Forest.

"The extension to Woodlands House is a modest scheme that will do no material harm and a lot of good."

Planning officers recommended the committee to reject the scheme on the grounds that Woodlands House was in a sensitive area of open countryside.

A report to councillors said there was a significant demand for extra care home spaces, but said the council had a duty to protect the character of the New Forest Heritage Area.

However, the application was approved after a long and hard-fought debate.

After the meeting, Cllr Holding said: "It was quite a tussle and I'm very pleased the application went through. The extra places are needed desperately."

In the past few months several residential care homes in the New Forest have closed and others have been refused permission to expand.

The extension to Woodlands House will house nine bedrooms, a communal lounge, a residents' dining room, a small auxiliary kitchen and a staff room.

A Hampshire social services spokesman said: "We generally welcome any development that provides additional nursing and residential care home beds.

"There is a shortage of places in the county as a whole and the ageing population means that demand is likely to increase."

Staff at Woodlands House said they were pleased with the council's decision to approve the expansion plan, but declined to make any further comment.