A PUBLIC meeting is planned to air concerns about plans for the former Webb's chicken factory site on Lymington's waterside.

Paxton Holdings have applied for permission to build 230 luxury flats, 69 affordable homes and a 100-room hotel, plus shops, on the 7.5 acre site - vacant for more than two years.

A group of residents calling themselves the Otter Bridge Committee - after Bridge Road which runs near the Webbs site - have issued a plea for

people to join forces and demand a less crammed, more imaginative plan for the prestige site.

Now the Lymington Society - pledged to protect the character of the town and resist unsuitable development - has added its influential voice to the calls for a rethink.

They have arranged a public meeting later this month in the community centre in New Street, to give local people the chance to debate the scheme.

Society chairman Clive Sutton said the Paxton plans had some merits, but they did not outweigh the flaws.

"We are very concerned about the lack of any significant community benefit from the development, and the large number of very small units

proposed could have an unbalancing effect on the area's housing stock as well as causing significant traffic congestion," he said.

"The development as proposed provides little benefit to the town in return for allowing planning permission for such a dense and valuable scheme."

All are welcome to attend the meeting at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 22 in Lymington Community Centre.

It is expected that a representative of Paxton Holdings will be on hand to answer questions on their plans.