CAMPAIGNERS have won the first round of their battle to prevent a 200-year-old farmhouse being demolished to make way for new homes.

Councillors have thrown out an application to bulldoze a former dairy in Salisbury Road, Totton, and build 14 flats and houses.

They said the development would result in the loss of an employment site.

They also criticised what they described as the scheme's "unreasonably poor design", saying it would fail to improve the character and quality of the area.

A report to the committee stressed that the dairy complex, especially the old farmhouse, made a positive contribution to the area.

The applicants, Frogmore Residential (Totton) Ltd, can either lodge an appeal or submit a new proposal.

Campaigners are hoping any revised scheme will spare the farmhouse, one of the few surviving examples of the era when Totton was a semi-rural community.