A NEW battle is looming over a multi-million-pound plan to redevelop part of the Hampshire coastline.

A developer has lodged an appeal after being refused permission to axe the centrepiece of its proposal to transform the old Webbs chicken factory site in Lymington.

Paxton Holdings wants to remove a five-star hotel from the scheme and replace it with a 60-bed care home for the elderly.

The application was rejected by New Forest District Council, which said the proposed care home went against the authority's aims and policies for what it described as an important waterfront site.

Paxton's appeal against the ruling will be heard at a public inquiry.

A statement accompanying the appeal says the care home proposal was the subject of extensive consultation and had the backing of council officers.

It adds: "The home will provide a similar, if not higher level of employment than the hotel."

The Webbs factory closed five years ago, with the loss of 500 jobs.

In June last year the district council approved Paxton's proposal to build a hotel and more than 300 homes on the seven-acre site.

Earlier this year Paxton submitted an application to replace the hotel with a care home.

Paul Uttley, representing the applicant, told the council's planning and development control committee that the viability of a luxury hotel on the site had been called into question.

He revealed that the owners of budget hotels were the only companies that had shown any interest in the proposal.

Mr Uttley added that a care home would generate fewer traffic movements than a hotel and would require fewer parking spaces.

However, members of Lymington and Pennington Town Council said the area already had seven care homes that provided a total of 228 beds.

Town and district councillor Kevin Ault, who was also Lymington's mayor at the time, said: "A care home would be a less than imaginative use of this spectacular site."

The application was rejected by 13 votes to six.