A LAST-ditch bid to get a planning blueprint for the redevelopment of Hedge End's Wildern Mill to specify that only flats should be built on the site has been thrown out.

Earlier this year, residents cheered after councillors rejected plans for 251 flats - including an 11-storey tower block.

Too big, too ugly, out of character and more suited to a city centre was the verdict on the scheme which would have seen five blocks of flats - ranging between four and 11 storeys - built on the five-acre site off Charles Watts Way.

Following refusal of the planning application a consultation draft brief - which reflected neighbouring locals' views that there was a need to limit the height of the buildings - was prepared by Eastleigh Council.

In August, councillors on the Hedge End, West End and Botley Local Area Committee were told that the prospective developer and owners of the site had given a generally positive response to the brief.

But they had expressed a "significant concern" about the viability of the scheme if anything other than flats was built there.

The local area committee agreed to amendments to the planning brief but insisted on a mix of flats and other types of housing on site.

Now, Eastleigh's executive committee has done the same when formally adopting the blueprint as a guide to future development of the site - despite being told that the landowner and the existing mill were asking for flats only.

Councillor David Airey said: "Flats are fine in certain areas but we don't want to start getting sites, particularly large sites, that are developed with flats alone. We need to get a mixture which makes for a better community."

Bellway Homes Wessex has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against the refusal of the original tower block scheme.