Winchester planning chiefs have been accused of "sapping the lifeblood" of a village after backing plans to demolish its only petrol station to make way for new housing.

The scheme was approved despite a petition from residents of Denmead and objections from the parish council and all three city councillors for the ward.

The Denmead Service Station, an Esso garage, is on the B2150 main Denmead to Waterlooville road.

The South Hants Chamber of Commerce had supported the continued use of the site and the committee was told Spar had expressed interest in running the garage and shop there.

The planning committee's decision to allow its replacement with 10 new homes, comes as a major blow to the village, which already has two empty shops and a boarded-up pub, The White Hart.

Denmead has over 6,500 residents but it only has one shop-the Co-op.

Tory Denmead councillor, Patricia Stallard, said: "The wishes of local people have been ignored by planners and the Lib-Dem council at Winchester.

"I am very disappointed by this because it is sapping the lifeblood of the village.

"The city council has published key priorities one of which says it will use planning policies to facilitate the establishment and growth of local businesses. They had a fantastic opportunity here.

"Spar was interested and all the local people wanted it, but the council simply didn't listen."

Neil Lander-Brinkley, chairman of the parish council's planning committee, said he was also very disappointed.

"We put a lot of effort into finding a major retailer interested in the petrol/retail opportunity.

"Spar was very interested. In fact they could not believe it when we told them what happened. They thought it was a good site and a viable opportunity for them."

Mr Lander-Brinkley said he was worried about the knock-on effect for Denmead's one remaining shop as villagers would now have to drive to the outskirts of Waterlooville for fuel.

"If people have to go out of the village to buy petrol, they may do the rest of their shopping there. It is one less reason to stay in the village and the last thing we want is to become a dormitory," he added.