The firm behind a gateway development next to Petersfield station could leave its mark on the other side of the tracks.

The future of the Petersfield Laundry building is hanging in the balance with its owners facing two options.

The first is to sell the landmark building on the corner of Rushes Road and Frenchmans Road for B2 general industrial usage, with its owners confident of quickly finding a buyer.

But the second is some sort of redevelopment, with options for a mixed-use scheme that retains “elements of the existing building for heritage” being explored.

And a familiar name is involved – with 6A Vision being asked to draw up plans because of their local expertise.

Derek Corden and Robert James gave a presentation to town councillors on Tuesday about their plans for the site ahead of a meeting with the South Downs National Park Authority.

Petersfield Linen Services operated for more than 120 years and was probably the oldest family-run firm in the town prior to its recent closure, aided by lockdown and its impact on hospitality and general market conditions.

No physical plans were presented to the PTC planning committee but the pair explained their options before adding that 170 neighbours showed “overwhelming support for a residential scheme” after being canvassed.

Mr Corden, representing the owners, told planning committee members that a purely residential scheme would be unlikely to gain permission, so a mixture of housing and light industrial could be the option.

He said: “The owners have no desire to enter into a long term planning process so we therefore approached 6A to establish a predominantly residential scheme.

“They have produced a design for the site in remarkably quick time.

“We cannot share them with you as they want to present the plans to the SDNPA, but in our opinion they create a wonderful opportunity to create a development the town would be proud of.

Mr Corden added: “We just want to understand why your thoughts might be, we’re just testing the water.

“We’re not a large developer that can sit on this for a long period of time. We just want to move things forward.”

Aspirations to redevelop the site are nothing new as Cllr Jamie Matthews recalled asking for the site’s chimney to be retained when plans were touted around 2017.

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He felt mixed use would be “pragmatic” given the site is crammed between a builder’s yard and substation.