A SCHEME to build a block of flats for the elderly in Eastleigh has come under fire because it will cost the town centre 90 jobs.

The Royal Yachting Association is due to set sail from its current Romsey Road base to a new purpose-built headquarters in Hamble.

Bournemouth-based sheltered housing specialists McCarthy and Stone want to knock down the old headqaurters and build 33 sheltered apartments with communal facilities in a new block of two, three and four storeys overlooking the town's Leigh Road recreation ground.

The borough council's Eastleigh local area committee decided to put the plans on ice after principal planning officer Steve Carrington told councillors negotiations with the developers were still going on.

But the proposals have been criticised by the council's economic development unit, supported by deputy chief executive Tom Calverley.

In a planning report on the scheme, the unit said there had been a steady loss of jobs in the area because employment land had been changed to residential use.

"Planning policy allows for 50 per cent commercial and 50 per cent residential in Romsey Road and we feel this is the most viable site for offices."

The unit added that the development would not contribute to the town centre because the majority of occupants would be "economically inactive."

The planning report also noted an objection from the head of planning policy and design, while the heads of engineering policy and housing services both criticised proposed parking provision.

But Councillor Glynn Davies-Dear told the committee he had been to Fordingbridge to look at a similar McCarthy and Stone housing scheme and commented: "I was very impressed with what I saw. It will do wonders for Eastleigh."