A VITAL purchase of downland near Winchester hangs in the balance amid last-ditch negotiations with the owner.

Hampshire Wildlife Trust wants to buy part of Deacon Hill to recreate an endangered landscape.

The land lies to the south-east of the city near St Catherine's Hill and the M3 and is north-facing and steeply-sloping land below the Morestead Road.

Its importance lies in the fact that it has not been intensively farmed like most of the chalk downland in the area over the past 50 years. The hill has never been ploughed but grazed by sheep for centuries and so maintains high ecological interest. In recent years it is gradually being invaded by scrub.

The trust had been so confident that the deal was done that it launched an appeal to its members in its magazine before Christmas.

A spokesman said yesterday, however: "We are still in negotiations with the owner. It is hanging in the balance."

She declined to put a figure on the price or give the identity of the landowner, except to confirm it was a private individual.

Senior officials from the trust are arranging to meet the owner within the next few days to conclude the deal.

Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been secured and the public appeal to trust members has so far accumulated £1,500.

Among the flora and fauna that the hill will attract are cowslips, orchids, glow-worms, butterflies such as the chalkhill blue, Duke of Burgundy and green hairstreak and birds such as the yellowhammer.

The grass will be maintained by grazing sheep, as on nearby St Catherine's Hill, and perhaps Highland cattle.

The area would be opened to the public for the first time.

It would also give an excellent view not just of the city but of the Chilcomb valley and of the sewage works pond, which are a mecca for migrating birds.

The importance of the purchase is that in the past 50 years an estimated 97 per cent of chalk downland has been lost to agriculture and development.