A CONTENTIOUS plan to site a £1m sewerage plant in a picturesque village near Winchester has been refused.

County council chiefs rejected a planning application from Southern Water to put a wastewater treatment plant in Avington.

They believed it was harmful to a conservation area and that it was in the setting of a Grade I listed church.

Southern Water's proposals to improve the village's sewerage system involved siting a new treatment unit in Avington House car park.

At present sewage from the village only has primary screening before flows are recycled back into the River Itchen.

Objectors to the scheme said they are not against the idea of the plant, rather its positioning next to a listed church.

Residents also objected to the size of the plant, saying it was far too big.

Penny Flemons, of Itchen Valley Parish Council, said: "It's much bigger than it needs to be. £1m is not wisely spent when it only serves 15 houses. It's not solving the problem, it's just a trade off between the River Itchen and Avington. It will make very little difference - sewerage will still be bypassing the system."

Jackie Porter, local county councillor, said: "Residents don't understand why a village with 68 residents recorded in the Domesday Book, and with just 72 a millennium later, could ever need a plant serving 114 users. I'm afraid this issue has not been addressed."

Richard Read, head of planning and development at Hampshire County Council, said: "Southern Water are required to plan for everyone in the village to go on mains drainage.

"This is a conservation area and in the setting of a listed building but it's about making development acceptable rather than stopping it."

He said the current situation of putting untreated sewage into the River Itchen was totally unacceptable'. He added the Environment Agency could prosecute Southern Water if they did not address the problem.

A spokeswoman for Southern Water, said the proposed location for the unit was chosen following an extensive evaluation of prospective sites in the area. The spokeswoman added: "Southern Water believes that the proposed site is the one that will be considered to be most acceptable to the planning authorities.

"In light of this there is no Plan B' as any potential Plan B' is less likely to be acceptable than the currently proposed location."