The meeting was held to discuss possible locations for the facility but residents complained that the decision to put such a facility in the town has already been made.

David Jeffery, of Woodbury Avenue, said the money would be better spent on a proper youth centre.

"We are being presented with a fait accompli. Speaking as chairman of the Petersfield Society, our overwhelming opinion was 'why do we want a youth shelter at all?'" he said.

"We have a brilliant youth theatre, lots of activities for kids, sports clubs, a superb football club, so what are we doing this for?

"We should clear the Kings Arms, which is a shambles and disgrace, and rebuild it as a proper youth centre."

The decision to introduce the shelter has been taken by Petersfield Town Council after research showed it would prove popular among the 14-16 age group. The shelter, a covered structure with seating for nine, would offer an informal place for youngsters to hang out and chat outside of their usual supervised organisations.

The £11,000 facility, which is vandal-proof and comes in conjunction with a climbing frame, has been purchased using lottery funding.

The council polled 235 young people and 194 residents drawn at random from the electoral roll and found the idea of the shelter was positively received by the majority.

Although residents views were more mixed, around 60 per cent were in favour of the plan.

Around 60 residents met in St Peter's Hall last Thursday to discuss various sites for the shelter but most voted against a shelter being located anywhere in the town when given the chance. The suggested locations included town council land at The Heath, Love Lane, The Avenue, Paddock Way and Borough Hill.

Two other sites – Penns Place and at the Kings Arms, off Heath Road – were also put forward during the meeting.

Strong arguments were forwarded against siting the shelter on The Heath, The Avenue or Love Lane although all remain popular options.

Town councillor Chris Jenner said The Square would be the ideal spot for the shelter.

"The youngsters could construe this as shoving them out of town where they can't be seen," he said.

"None of the sites really fit the criteria. It needs to be well lit, overlooked and near sports facilities and teen appropriate play equipment, which apart from Paddock Way, none of them are.

"The advice is that it should not be put near pre-school play equipment because that leads to conflict and intimidation."

Youth worker Dave Ashton said shelters have been successfully employed in Havant, Fareham and Gosport. He said: "You could no doubt find some that have suffered from vandalism and graffiti but I can assure you the young people have not done that generally.

"If you build things for young people they will come.