VILLAGERS at Allbrook are gearing up to fight controversial plans for a technology and research park on the edge of Eastleigh.

Southampton-based Leuk-aemia Busters would occupy one of three high-tech buildings on 2.5 acres of the sensitive 14.5-acre site in the Pitmore Copse area near Junction 12 of the M3.

But when developers PGC Construction Ltd called a public meeting last November to sound out local opinion they were accused of "tugging at heart strings" by making the charity's need for more space for research work the centrepiece of the proposed science park. There was standing room only as angry villagers worried about increases in traffic and the danger of Allbrook losing its identity if the countryside strategic gap was swallowed by development - to register their protest.

Now PGC Construction has lodged a planning application with Eastleigh council and residents are preparing for battle.

Boyatt Lane resident Linda Pragnell told the Daily Echo locals had not changed their view about the scheme. She said: "Our biggest concern is that if this goes ahead it will open the floodgates for development in the countryside gap."

She added: "Trying to get out of Boyatt Lane is a nightmare in the mornings and the roundabout by Penarth House is horrendous. Traffic tails all the way back to Chandler's Ford."

The application seeks the go-ahead for 2,492 square metres of research and development facilities laid out in three separate two-storey units.

Developers plan to give just over half an acre to a local scout group and dedicate 12 acres of land to be held in trust in perpetuity for public use - which would open up the land to the public for the first time.