A £500,000 youth centre has run into a storm of protest before it even gets off the drawing board.

The package, including a 60-foot multi-use hall, is aimed at beating the boredom of teenagers in Fair Oak, Horton Heath and Bishopstoke.

Scores of residents living on a new Fair Oak estate near the Blackberry Drive site have signed a protest petition and say it is being put in the wrong place.

They fear it will lead to traffic congestion, road safety dangers, parking chaos, noise and an increase in vandalism.

The planning application is expected to come before the Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath Local Area Committee on December 5.

But if councillors give it the go-ahead the Secretary of State is likely to have the final say because it is proposed to build on open space land.

If all the planning hurdles are cleared it could be built as early as 2003.

Councillor Roger Smith, vice chairman of Fair Oak and Horton Heath Parish Council, said that plans for the former Brookfield Fruit Farm site first came before the borough's local area committee in November 1998.

"Since then the site for the proposed buildings have been moved away from homes and are closer to the road," he said.

"We have had number of complaints that we are not providing facilities for young people so it essential we get this facility.

"It is a joint venture with Bishopstoke because it will be built between the two villages."

Residents on the new estate, off Fair Oak Road, say they are not against providing youth facilities.

But they say that the proposed site, which is also next to Stoke Park surgery and a pharmacy, is in the wrong place.

They are also angry that they were not aware of the youth centre plan when they moved into the estate.

Residents' spokesman Jim Carter, of Blackberry Drive, said:"With one drop-off point this will cause congestion when several vehicles arrive together on this busy access road."

The scheme would only have four car parking spaces and residents fear this would lead to parking spilling over into nearby roads.

The parish council is raising no objections to plans provided certain conditions are carried out including traffic calming, adequate security lighting, parking restrictions on the main road and that liquor is not sold on the premises.

But councillors want planners to reconsider the design of the multi-gym area.