A BID to build hundreds of new flats in Southampton has taken a step forward.

The plans for 240 apartments have been submitted to city bosses.

Under the proposal Compass House on Romsey Road could be converted from offices to flats.

The plans will now be considered by Southampton City Council planners.

The proposals detail plans to turn the building, once home of Britain’s legendary mapmakers Ordnance Survey, into 241 apartments with a further 225 parking spaces.

Earlier this year, plans were put to the council to turn the building into 260 flats with shops, restaurants, offices and a surgery also planned for the site.

The proposals by developers BMR Compass have been resubmitted this month for 241 apartments.

But the plans have been met with anger from local residents, who claim the area is already overcrowded.

In a letter to the council on resident said: "This will completely overcrowd the area, the land has already been overcrowded with the development from Taylor Wimpey and also Barratt Homes.

"There is very minimal parking amongst these two estates let alone another 241 cars if there is only one car per household.

"These days households usually have two cars, this will then bring nearly 500 cars into such a small amount of space.

"Romsey Road is already a very busy road, and to have the extensive amount of extra cars, it will constantly cause even more traffic within the area and could cause danger to pedestrians."

Another objector also complained that there are "always more flats than parking spaces".

She added: "The workmen have been gutting the building for months now, so the change of purpose is clearly irreversible at this point, and the decision for it to stop being an office block has been made literally years ago.

"No-one has ever addressed locals' concerns over the tiny flats and the under-provisioning of parking, and the revisions to the plan never address those."