TWO sites of former schools in the New Forest can be sold off for housing development.

Hampshire County Council has tied up legal agreements that allow it to sell the plots to housebuilders as a package that must include affordable housing and open spaces.

Planning permission for the sites in Hythe and Holbury was granted in June 2005 subject to the legal agreements, despite objections from residents and Fawley Parish Council.

The sales follow a shake-up of primary education in the Forest which has seen three school mergers and closures in recent years. The former Holbury Infant School site in Whitefield Road, Holbury, is set to be replaced by 25 houses.

It was merged with next door Holbury Junior School to create the 380-place Cadland Primary School which opened in September.

The former Langdown Infant School in Lytton Road, Hythe, is to be cleared for 27 homes.

They include seven one-bed flats, four two-bed flats, five two-bed houses, eight three-bed houses and three four-bed houses.

The infant school merged with Langdown Junior School to become the seven class 210-place Waterside Primary School, in Ashford Crescent, Hythe, following a £2m refurbishment. It opened in September.

Pupils were taught in temporary classrooms on the infant school site in Lytton Road while the new school was being built.

Land will also be sold off at the former Blackfield Infant Junior School in Hampton Lane, Blackfield.

It was merged with Blackfield Junior School to become the 540-place Blackfield Primary School with a £1.25m extension housing four infant classrooms and a library, plus toilets and a toy store. It also opened in September.

Proceeds from the sale of land will be used to offset some of the merger costs.

A spokesman for Hampshire County Council refused to say how much the land was worth.