CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight "tooth and nail" to prevent 100 homes being built beside a Hampshire hospice renowned for its peace and tranquility.

Members of Pennington and Lymington Lanes Society (PALLS) are continuing to oppose part of a newly-approved planning blueprint produced by the district council.

The Local Plan, agreed by government inspectors earlier this year, identifies sites where more than 10,400 homes could be built over the next 16 years.

They include an area of farmland near Oakhaven Hospice in Lower Pennington Lane, Pennington.

Critics claim a large amount of residential development on the site - known officially as SS6 - would have an adverse impact on the hospice and its terminally-ill patients.

Two years ago Oakhaven bosses said they had “serious concerns” about the proposal, including the prospect of extra traffic on narrow country lanes surrounding the hospice.

Now PALLS has claimed that representations made at public hearings on the Local Plan last year were not properly considered by the council, which the authority denies.

PALLS chairman Bruce Tindall said: "The council could and should have consulted fairly, openly and transparently at a formative stage but failed to do so.

"This is not a situation which we sought and we regret the council’s attitude but in the absence of any sign that the council are willing to listen, they only have themselves to blame if the community continue to fight these proposals tooth and nail."

PALLS is being backed by the Lymington Society, the town's conservation watchdog group.

The deputy chairman, Don Mackenzie, cited the potential impact on narrow country roads in the Oakhaven area and on the nearby Solent shoreline, a nationally protected habitat.

He said: "We very much hope that, even sat this late stage, the planners will see that this site is not suitable for such a large development, that sense will prevail and that the much smaller development suggested by the society will instead be agreed."

But the council's head of planning, Claire Upton-Brown, said the authority had followed correct procedures.

She added: "The opposition to the allocation of SS6 was fully considered by the council as part of the public consultation that took place during the preparation of the Local Plan.

"At the Local Plan examination PALLS made representation to the inspectors that the council had ignored its views.

"The inspector spent some time during the hearing relating to this specific site allocation and listening to PALLS' views. The inspector did not support these views."