Eastleigh Housing Association has been ordered to move a waste compound on the Velmore Estate at Chandler's Ford after local councillors were told it was a haven for rats.

The association was granted 12 months' planning permission to use a compound for the storage of re-cycled materials in skips on land to the rear of Devon Close in January last year.

But the borough's Eastleigh local area committee has now dumped attempts to keep it there for another year.

Councillors had been recommended to grant temporary permission - although the borough's head of development control, Colin Peters, told them: "This is a residential area and is not a suitable location for a rubbish tip."

Members were told the compound was for the storage of waste materials produced by the association's refurbishment programme of properties in the area.

But Glynn Davies-Dear told colleagues: "I don't see how this is being used for any refurbishment. Beyond those gates is a skip of the size they use at a recycling depot.

"What I do know is that it is a rubbish dump. Rats are proliferating there and residents are complaining about it. It is downright unfair of them to be using this area in a residential setting for a dump. They don't need to. It is unfair and they should stop forthwith."

Marilyn Birks said councillors had been assured that the compound was there while work was being done in the vicinity.

But she added: "It has been located there for long enough."