PLANS to build six new homes next to a popular beauty spot have proved unpopular with residents. Up to 45 people, including town and district councillors, packed into the Assembly Rooms on Monday night to hear Alton Town Council's suggestions for the site it owns next to Kings Pond, which currently houses two ageing bungalows occupied by the council's grounds staff. The meeting heard four options, one of which would see the existing two homes demolished and replaced with two new homes, while a further four homes would be built on part of one of the existing gardens. The remaining garden could then be converted into public open space. This proposal would also bag the council cash for improvements to the area of Kings Pond, such as extending the reed beds, improving the entrance from Lower Turk Street and perhaps creating a snack bar or covered exhibition space. Deputy mayor Dave Crocker outlined the four options that have been put together in secret meetings over the last two years, but stressed that no decisions had been taken. "The bungalows are inadequate in size and in quality and I think they are becoming an eyesore but I don't think we can maintain them any longer. They are really passing their useful life and are probably at least 60 years old," he said. "We have had a number of problems with rot, leaking and drainage. They must be replaced or they need to be taken down. We have looked at refurbishment and frankly the sums don't add up. "We have four options. One would be to do nothing, but the council has decided it is a non-starter to just do nothing. The second is to demolish the bungalows to prevent them running into further decay and to just grass it over and leave it to open space. "The only problem with that is that would define it as a brownfield site so developers and planners might put pressure on us to rebuild and we don't want to be under that pressure. "We also would have no presence down there to discourage anti-social behaviour. This, also, will not be done for nothing - it will cost us money to demolish and landscape the remaining area. We think perhaps £50,000 might do it just to lay it flat, put some shrubs in and regenerate it. We are not keen on that option either. "The third option is to replace two with two. Why don't we just rebuild a pair of semis or something for our needs? Well that's worth debating. You have to appreciate that we have got to find the money to do that. You are probably looking at about £250,000 which, at the moment, we have not got. If we are going to do it soon, the only way we are going to is to ask you, the council tax payers, to pay. "The option we have looked at seriously, but which we have not taken a decision on, is to try to find a way of replacing the bungalows at no cost to the taxpayer. We have taken professional advice and invited a range of proposals. "We have had three quite definite planning proposals in front of us to consider, one of which recommended we would need to build at least eight to make it pay. We disputed that. We have got it down to six and that would still leave us with a small profit. "This would also involve a separate footpath to separate pedestrians from traffic and we have also asked for some sort of fencing between the two to separate pedestrians from cars." Many residents expressed concern about the increase in traffic along the existing unmade road that runs alongside the pond, and some questioned whether it would need to be upgraded to serve the homes. The council disputed this, stressing that it was sure there were private roads in other areas serving more than the six homes this would serve. It also said it was likely that government guidelines would dictate that six car parking spaces would need to be provided, with visitors being encouraged to park in the existing council-owned car park at the other end of the unmade road. Some residents said six parking spaces would be insufficient and expressed fears that cars would park up the unmade road and in other neighbouring roads, causing chaos. They were not reassured by the council's suggestion that it would not allow motorists to do this. Robert Davenport questioned how much it would cost council taxpayers for the bungalows to be replaced with like-for-like. "I think Kings Pond is the jewel in the crown of Alton. There are very few towns that have this amenity just a walk away from the centre," he said. "You can't expect to get this for nothing. I think it is a question of optimising the aesthetics with the costs. How much would £250,000 cost each council tax payer in Alton?" Town clerk Steve Parkinson said it would be a one-off payment of roughly £35 for each Band D property. Mr Davenport said: "It seems to be a small price to pay to maintain the security of the site." Other residents agreed with this view. But Mr Parkinson said the suggestion might not be popular with other areas of the town that were not as wealthy as Ashdell ward. "Ashdell is one of the wealthier wards in the town whereas other wards you may find have a very different view on whether they would be willing to spend another £35 on their council tax," he said. Suggestions were also put forward to start charging motorists to park in the pond's existing car park, but the council said this would not be popular with visitors and may discourage them from coming to the beauty spot. It also said it did not charge for parking at its other car parks in the town. One resident pointed out that if the council disposed of some of its capital, there was no getting it back. "I think the family silver is worth keeping," he said. Other residents asked why the cash from the eventual sale of 23 Ashdell Road - for the development of three homes - could not be used for this scheme. But the council said at least £80,000 of this had already been spent on much-needed maintenance and refurbishment projects like the revamp of the kitchen and toilets in the Assembly Rooms and more of the cash had been earmarked for other projects. The meeting heard that the council had been playing "catch-up" for the last four years, trying to complete a backlog of maintenance on the town's facilities. And this was the first year that it had actually been able to set aside any of its cash - £25,000 - for capital projects. Other suggestions were that the council should consider putting its services out to tender, instead of recruiting its own staff. But Mr Parkinson said: "I have worked for five much bigger authorities than this and most of them used a mixture of their own staff and contractors. I don't think I have ever worked anywhere in which the grounds staff have taken as much pride in their work as they do here."