Eastleigh Rugby Club's storage container is set to be booted out from the Bishopstoke playing fields within 12 months after civic chiefs labelled it an "eyesore."

Members of the borough's Eastleigh local area committee grudgingly renewed temporary planning permission for a year but also made it clear the container had to go.

Head of development control Colin Peters told committee members the "scruffy" structure, which looked like a railway container, had been on site since 1995.

Pointing out that the club had been given the all-clear to build an extension to provide changing facilities and an equipment store in September 1999, Mr Peters said 12 months would give sufficient time for the extension to be built and for the container to be moved.

Bill Luffman told committee colleagues: "I would have thought that could have gone ahead and the unsightly buildings around Bishopstoke recreation ground should start to be removed. I am really opposed to a further 12 months."

But he also commented: "We have two very unsightly huts there and our own council ought to start thinking about making a permanent building for whatever they store there."

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