Netley'S former village police station is set to be converted into homes if Eastleigh civic chiefs give the planning go-ahead.

Hampshire Constabulary has lodged a planning application to change the use and extend the building in New Road to provide five two-bedroom homes plus parking for eight cars.

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

Villagers staged a long-running campaign to keep the Netley station 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.

Its fate was sealed last March after police said it was uneconomic to refurbish the building and the public rarely visited the station.

The police also argued that combining personnel from Hedge End and Netley had been shown to provide better 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, and by Hound Parish Council chiefs, who warned it was the wrong time to close the station when the area was plagued by vandalism.

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

A spokesman for Eastleigh council said it was believed the building - which currently provides two residential units - dated from the 1920s.

He added that the earliest possible date for the planning application to be considered by the borough's Hamble and Hound local area committee was June 13.