CIVIC chiefs are studying plans to build almost 100 homes and a village hall on the edge of a Hampshire town.

New Forest District Council has received an application to redevelop a large area of land at St John's Farm in Stuckton Road, Fordingbridge.

Proposals include 78 houses, 20 retirement apartments and a village green.

If the scheme is given the go-ahead it will become the first major housing development to be built east of the A338 Ringwood to Salisbury road, which bypasses the town.

A design and access statement that forms part of the application refers to facts and figures submitted to a recent planning inquiry.

"This represents a huge under-supply of housing and makes the district one of the most dire in terms of the need for new housing development," it says.

"It is against this desperate need and requirement for new housing that this application is made.

"The site is within easy walking distance of the centre of the town and all the services and facilities required for day-to-day living.

"The proposal is for 98 dwellings with the principal access coming from the B3078.

"The need to provide new housing is identified by the local planning authority as their main key priority. The site at St John's Farm is considered to be in an excellent position to provided much-needed housing."

The statement says Fordingbridge is outside the Green Belt and is not in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

"It is the logical town for further residential expansion, given its proximity to Salisbury and Bournemouth and the lack of planning constraints (on land) surrounding it," it says.

"This would be the first major development east of the A338 - recent planning permissions in the town have largely been to the north of Fordingbridge.

"However, those new residential areas are remote from the town centre in comparison with this scheme."

But the application is likely to fuel concerns about the large number of applications to build new homes in the Fordingbridge area.

Last year it was revealed that plans for 240 properties north of Station Road had sparked more than 100 objections.

The Stuckton Road scheme coincides with a proposal to build 63 homes at Burgate Acres, Salisbury Road.