A MAJOR firm could pull out of a village if it is not able to expand, a senior Eastleigh councillor has warned.

Contact lens firm CooperVision might quit Hamble if it cannot acquire land to secure its future, according to Bill Pepper.

Bosses are struggling to find the necessary land because so much was earmarked for new homes rather than industry.

Company spokesman Bill Everton appeared before Eastleigh's ruling Cabinet to ask them to save land at Hamble's Ensign Way for industrial use rather than new homes.

He said that Cooper-Vision employed 1,400 people on six sites - three of which were in Hamble - and wanted to expand and secure its future in the village. But negotiations were being blighted by the high price placed on land for residential development. He added: "If you were to remove the chance of residential development we believe long-term commercial reality would return."

But civic chiefs have ignored the pleas.

They also rejected a 200-signature petition from nearby residents who are fighting plans to build homes on the site.

Ten days after the council's Bursledon, Hamble and Hound local area committee had rejected a move to change land zoned for employment west of Ensign Way to a mixed development of employment and housing, the council's executive cabinet overruled it.

Planning officer Graham Tuck said: "There is enough employment land in the borough to meet the needs for the next ten years."