NEW plans for the Love Lane sports pavilion have been put forward in a bid to provide permanent homes for young footballers and a nursery school.

Petersfield town councillors are asking East Hampshire District Council planners for a permanent change of use from football hall to include mixed use for sports and indoor leisure.

They were granted temporary permission last year after the completion of the new pavilion.

Both the Petersfield Town Juniors and the Jigsaw Nursery have been occupying the pavilion on a "tenancy of will" for a year pending the signing of leases.

The delay in providing leases arose after a dispute last year over the use of the Love Lane pavilion.

Organisers of the youth football team asked the town council if they could use the large room at the weekends as an extension to their changing facilities at Love Lane.

Planners said the town council only had permission to use the pavilion for sport use and they were advised to apply for mixed use, which would allow both groups to use it.

Temporary permission for D1 sports use and D2 indoor sports and leisure use was granted by East Hampshire District Council last October. It is due to expire on October 31 this year.

Town councillor George Watkinson told The Herald this week the application was being made to get permanent permission for a mixed use and to provide long-term homes for the footballers and the nursery school.

He said the town council could not finalise the leases with either group until the permission was granted.