We don’t want your new civic centre here!

New Forest District Council could decide to sell its two existing buildings in Lyndhurst and Lymington and construct a new headquarters in the area.

Chris Malyon, the council's head of resources, has said Brockenhurst would make an ideal location because of its rail links and central position.

However any move to build a new civic centre in the village would be opposed by people living in the area.

Nina Ball, chairman of the parish council, said: "It would be seen as further erosion of a New Forest village that has already seen a lot of high-scale development.

"Any economic benefits to Brockenhurst could be outweighed by other factors, including an increase in the number of vehicles passing through the parish. We're already grid-locked in the summer and have tremendous traffic and parking problems."

Brockenhurst councillor Maureen Holding said: "I wouldn't like to see a great big building go up in the village. It's been built to death."

A total of 400 council employees work out of Appletree Court, Lyndhurst, and Lymington town hall, which are almost ten miles apart.

The authority is looking at four options: n Maintaining the status quo.

n Closing Appletree Court and moving all the staff to Lymington.

n Axing Lymington town hall and transferring all the employees to Appletree Court.

n Closing both buildings and constructing a new centre somewhere in the district.

As reported in the Daily Echo, any council land vacated would be sold off in a multi-million-pound deal.

Alan Weeks, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, said: "We want the best for council tax payers in terms of value for money.

"If that meant a one-site operation I'd probably support it - but I would need a lot more detail than is available at the moment."

Chief executive Dave Yates said: "We are looking at all the options. While we can't discount the possibility of moving to a new site it's by no means a firm plan."