A HAMPSHIRE garden centre is set to close and the site could be redeveloped for retirement accommodation.

Bosses at the Hillier Garden Centre in Botley Road, Romsey, say the centre was no longer viable after a steady decline in business over the last decade.

Hillier chairman Robert Hillier said his firm had reached an agreement with retirement developer McCarthy & Stone, who have taken an option on the 1.7 acre site “If they receive planning permission for their proposals, it will enable Hillier to reinvest the proceeds from the sale back into the business,” said Mr Hillier.

Eleven staff, including some parttimers, work at the garden centre, which opened in 1982, and Hillier says it will try to find them alternative jobs at their other centres – the firm has 13 outlets in Hampshire, Somerset, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire It is expected that the Botley Road centre would close at the end of the year, subject to McCarthy & Stone gaining planning permission.

McCarthy & Stone says it is in the early stages of drawing up proposals for the site, which will include 40 to 45 units of “Later Living Retirement Housing” and a small scale convenience store.

Regional managing director; Shane Paull said: “The garden centre offers the ideal location for later living retirement housing being a brownfield site set within a prevailing residential area which benefits from excellent pedestrian links into the town centre.”

Hillier are not the only occupants of the land. Conservatory Village rents part of the site and their managing director Chris Lodge said: “I’d prefer it if Hillier didn’t close, but I can understand why they would want to sell.”

Mr Lodge said he would be looking for an alternative site in Romsey for his showroom.