Two new parking areas can be created next to a council building after plans were permitted. 

David Pickett submitted the application for the clearance of two areas of scrub land and the construction of two parking areas, one for staff vehicles and the other for service vehicles, at Test Valley Borough Council Bourne House in Sandy Lane, Abbotswood. 

It was brought before the southern area planning committee on June 11 because it's a council application and it received an objection from Romsey Town Council. 

They had concerns about the smells and noise affecting the residential neighbours, as well as the loss of biodiversity. 

Ann Smith, of Sandy Lane, also objected. She said: “This area is already overdeveloped. The staff arrive very early in the morning and bump up and down the sleeping policemen. They leave their engines idle outside the office most mornings. When we moved here it was a residential area and now it's got so commercial.

“The smell is awful and I can hear the bin lorries being cleaned from my home. I am right in front of this and it really not the environment I want to live in.”