DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott's decision on the long-awaited bypass for Eastleigh could be imminent, civic chiefs have been told.

The route from Chickenhall Lane to Wide Lane, which is vital to a planned £60 million business park development at the northern end of Southampton Interna-tional Airport, was the subject of a public inquiry in Eastleigh last September.

Earlier that year, borough planners had recommended that the route should be given the all-clear.

But the planning application was "called in" by the government after the Civil Aviation Authority and airport operator BAA opposed approval unless a 160-metre stretch of the road was put in a covered cutting or tunnel.

They said new international recommendations for safety areas at the end of runways meant the airport would not be able to meet the proposed criteria, if a surface road sliced through the northern end of the airport.

Now the Government Office for the South East has also directed Eastleigh council not to grant planning permission to Gazeley Properties Ltd, which submitted an application asking the local authority for more time to submit detailed development plans for the business park.

At the borough's Eastleigh local area committee, head of development control Colin Peters said the move was "slightly odd" as outline consent had already been given by the council for the development.

He told members: "This is something we will be making representations to the government about. It was part of the council's case last summer that we were already committed to the development."

But he added that a telephone conversation with the government office had led him to believe a report from the inspector at last September's public inquiry into the Chickenhall Link Road was due any day, and that it would soon find its way on to Mr Prescott's desk.

He said: "I suspect that, in the light of that, they wanted to have all the information before them at the same time."

Later, Mr Peters told the Daily Echo: "The permission for the business park is still valid.

"However, the future of the development is dependent upon the government's decision on the link road."