LYMINGTON needs a new hotel to help rid the town of its Costa Geriatrica image, a public inquiry heard.

The inquiry will decide whether Paxton Holdings can build a care home as the centrepiece of its proposed development at the former Webbs chicken processing factory site off Bridge Road.

The company had successfully obtained planning permission for 308 apartments, ten live/work units, a restaurant, shop, offices and a 100-bed hotel there.

Later Paxton Holdings decided to substitute the hotel with a care home. New Forest District Council subsequently refused planning permission for the change of use and Paxton appealed against the decision.

Lymington and Pennington town councillor Tony Swain said: "Lymington is awash with nursing homes and sheltered accommodation.

"This has resulted in ribald comments such as Costa Geriatrica, Geriatric Ghetto, etc.

"There is no demand for nursing homes, and places are filled by the inward migration of retired folk from elsewhere.

"The infrastructure of the town cannot cope with these extra people."

He said Lymington has just two hotels, neither with parking provision.

"Lymington needs a hotel with parking. Now that the New Forest has been designated a National Park there will be an increase in tourist numbers," he predicted.

Council planning chairman Cllr Elizabeth Lewis said the hotel would increase economic viability and provide work for catering and hotel management students.

"The developers need to consult local people and to have vision. We have to get it right for the benefit of the next generation," she said.

Mayor Cllr Pauline Elsworth said when she visited local authority homes at Christmas "there were vacancies in all".

Lymington Society's Dr Donald Mackenzie said there were numerous opportunities for building care homes in and around town.

He added: "It is almost certain that there is no other suitable or similar site where such a hotel could be developed."

Paxton Holdings' town planner Paul Uttley said the proposed scheme includes the aims and objectives of planning guidance, "will not result in any planning harm and will be an asset to the town of Lymington and the wider community".