ONE of Southampton’s tallest tower blocks could be decorated in Saints’ red and white stripes.

The city council’s housing team want to change the appearance of Albion Towers in Golden Grove.

However the council’s planning department has objected to the plans, saying that the red and white stripes would be “visually intrusive” and have a “harmful impact on the city’s skyline”.

The council block is just yards away from Saints' St Mary’s Stadium, and there is support for the change among residents.

However now the two council departments will go up against each other at a meeting to see if the plans are approved.

The city council’s planning and rights of way panel meets tomorrow night, and could decide to approve or reject the plans.

It is part of a project to add new cladding to the tower, and after consultation with residents 35 out of 47 households that responded said they would prefer the red and white stripes.

But the council’s planning team have said: “Whilst the re-cladding of the building presents the opportunity to improve the appearance of the building, to a degree, the extent and tone of the red colour proposed, against a contrasting white render, would not achieve the desired effect.

“Rather, since the colour choice is unusual in this context, the amount and striped nature of the colour application would instead accentuate the poor design of the building and increase its negative prominence within the cityscape.

“This impact is considered to be particularly harmful to the visual quality of the city centre given that the building would be readily visible from longer-distance views and key approaches into the city, including from the train line.”

• Update: At 4pm, Southampton City Council released images of their plan, which have now been added to the article.