A GIFT of land to provide Eastleigh residents with extra recreation and burial ground was signed and sealed after council officers approved an application for a major housing development in Fair Oak.

Eastleigh Council's Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath local area committee gave Barratt Southampton the green light to build 45 homes on land at White Tree Farm in Botley Road.

The development includes two, three and four-bedroom properties with parking and a percentage of homes set aside for social housing.

It includes provision to transfer 17 acres of green land to the parish council, which residents hope will be used as a much-needed cemetery and recreation ground for the community.

Planning officers and the committee have yet to formally approve the possibility of building a cemetery.

They want to iron out issues regarding access for people and cars to the proposed facility from Knowle Lane.

Concerns have also been raised over contamination by landfill gas of a small portion of the 17 acres to be passed on to the parish council.

Parishioners are hoping a new cemetery will solve the problem of the nearly full one at Elland Close.

Parish clerk Cheryl Gosling said: "We are in desperate need of a cemetery because we are running out of space at our current site in Elland Close."

They have already set aside £50,000, budgeted for with a controversial council tax hike of 49.6 per cent from April, to provide for initial work on the land, staffing and equipment.

Parish council chairman Helen Douglas said the parish was delighted to be a part of the development: "We think it has been carefully thought out and we are looking forward to the prospect of the open land."

How the land will be used recreationally will be considered by the committee at a later date.

But parishioners are looking to leave it largely untouched to allow for walking, conservation, picnics and allotments.