AN OLD restored watermill wheel from Romsey will be made into a feature in the town under a £24,000 project.

The wheel was removed from Fox Mill in the 1970s and put into a Hampshire County Council store.

But it has now been restored and is due to be placed in the middle of the Southampton Road roundabout.

The scheme replaces a millennium project to install a fountain outside the old magistrates court, which was scrapped mainly because of a funding shortage.

Michael Ricketts, design and conservation manager with Test Valley council's planning service, told a meeting of the Romsey Forum: "This project was taken up by leisure services with the objective to site and display the wheel in a prominent position as a statement of the town's heritage.

"It was originally proposed to put it on a very large brick plinth but we then decided it ought to have a supporting structure which would display it to its full glory. It will be a significant feature within the town."

A steel cradle has been designed to support the 11ft wheel and different sites have been considered, including the southern end of Middlebridge Street, and straddling the river at Duke's Mill.

Mr Ricketts said the Environment Agency was "vehemently against" cradling the wheel over the river, but the council will go back and ask the agency to reconsider - otherwise it will be placed on the Southampton Road roundabout.

A resident at the Romsey Forum said: "It does seem a shame not to put it near water."

A planning application will now be submitted for the wheel.