PLANS to build a block of flats in a Hampshire town have gone to appeal.

New Forest District Council refused to support an outline application for nine flats and a shop at Rumbridge Street in Totton.

Proposals submitted by Templeton Stockbridge Ltd were turned down last year.

Totton and Eling Town Council had objected to the proposal, saying it amounted to over-development. The district council had also received five letters of objection from locals worried about lack of parking, loss of highway safety and increased noise and pollution.

Giving its reasons for refusing the application the council said the scheme would result in an "intrusive and discordant building" on a prominent site.

It also criticised the introduction of a ground floor home in a shopping area, adding that a reduction in the existing retail floorspace would damage the commercial vitality of the area.