PLANS to create a new yachting centre on the shores of the River Hamble have been floated by Hampshire's harbour bosses.

The site of Warsash's former Solent School of Yachting would be given a new lease of life under the £13,000 redevelopment scheme.

The project, currently being touted to county council chiefs, would create a new visitors' centre and meeting point at the heart of the yachting community.

As part of the proposed scheme, the Warsash jetty would also be repaired and upgraded to accept ten yachts moored alongside for overnight stays.

Facilities, such as toilets and showers, for both visiting yachtsmen and local mooring holders are planned for the centre on the school site which was acquired by the county council last October.

And the Shore Road development would also be home to a new Customs and Excise base and provide facilities for essential oil clean-up equipment to be stored.

The plan is currently at the blueprint stage and has yet to be given approval by the council's river managers.

But, if given the go-ahead, work on the scheme could be started by late spring and the centre opened in time for the summer.

Steps have already been taken by the Hamble's harbourmaster, Captain Richard Exley, to get the project off the ground.

In a report on the scheme, the harbourmaster told members of the River Hamble harbour management sub-committee: "With the assistance of county council staff, costs have been sought from a number of approved contractors to partition the main room to create 24-hour limited access to the toilets, together with a meeting room and visitor information facility, with access to HM Customs and Excise."

The proposal is next to come under scrutiny from members of the committee's moorings working group.

In the meantime, work is to take place to make safe existing moorings so that they can be brought into use as soon as possible.