BLUE collar jobs should be preserved on a Bishop's Waltham site instead of it being allocated for housing, a meeting in the town concluded.

James Duke and Son (Holdings) Ltd has submitted an application to construct 70 homes on the Abbey Mill site, adjacent to South Pond off Station Road, and demolish several industrial units.

The company already has permission to revamp the site and build 30 homes.

But at a special meeting of Bishop's Waltham Parish Council, both councillors and residents voiced their concerns about the plans.

Brijan Tours bus company had been based in Bishop's Waltham since its inception in 1990.

However, Brian Botley, managing director, said he had no choice but to move his operation to Botley a month ago as a result of the uncertainty the application had caused.

Mr Botley was not at the parish council meeting, but told the Chronicle: "I moved because I found a property that was suitable to take our operation.

"We were lucky, and in Botley, they are only too pleased to have us - no one has objected.

"I feel it is a shame that Bishop's Waltham has lost one of its biggest employers, and I personally feel they have lost an asset.

"We have 40 staff and I dare say there were not many who didn't buy something in Bishop's Waltham while they were there, and now we have moved that has taken something out of the economy."

Cllr Dorothey Quiney said at the meeting: "I would say that previous applications for this type of development were rigorously defended by the parish council at the time, due to the loss of light industrial employment uses.

"I deplore the loss of any further light industrial provision in Bishop's Waltham.

"Blue-collar jobs cannot be replaced once they are lost, and that is what we have to bear in mind."

Resident Ray Wyre claimed that the site had been run down, and that little had been done to get businesses to want to stay there.

"Kids should have somewhere to go for apprenticeships, and there still has to be places where people can do those sort of jobs and that is the perfect site," he said.

"We must keep it in industrial use of some description."

Peter North, who represented the site owner, said after the meeting: "It was a good debate.

"I feel the issues about employment policy have been addressed in our application.

"The balance between housing and the proposed employment space is viable, and that is something we have to demonstrate to Winchester City Council."

The Abbey Mill planning application is set to come before Winchester's planning, development and control committee at the end of July.