YEARS of debate on whether to allow housing on the same site as Lymington's new hospital will be settled by a public inquiry next month.

A government planning inspector will decide on the development scheme for the Ampress site in Southampton Road after a four-day hearing starting at Lymington Town Hall on June 27.

It is yet another stage in two decades of battling to get a new community hospital for the south-eastern New Forest area.

Another 12 months of delay were caused by a government decree that wildlife experts must analyse effects of housing on protected reed beds adjacent to Ampress.

It meant cancellation for a planning inquiry in June 1999. But now the environmental report is complete, and site owner Fay and Sons is pushing ahead with its appeal.

The new hospital has planning permission to be built on the southern part of the Ampress site. Fay and Sons wants to put housing as well as employment facilities on the site's northern half.

But New Forest planners share the government's worries about the threat of building homes near vulnerable wildlife.

Fay and Sons argues that there would not be enough interest from local businesses to take up factory units on the whole remaining site.

And it says fences and ditches would protect the reed beds from disturbance.

District planning officer Stephen Avery said: "This inquiry shouldn't affect the new hospital. The main focus of this inquiry is the housing development."

A spokeswoman for Southampton Community Health Service Trust said it was in the final stages of negotiation with the NHS for permission to start work on the new hospital.

Written views on the plans should be sent to the DoE, Room 10/13, Tollgate House, Houlton Street, Bristol, by May 30.

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