EMPTY offices on the outskirts of Lymington could provide a temporary home for the New Forest National Park Authority.

The NPA, headed by chief executive Lindsay Cornish, has just submitted a planning application to New Forest District Council asking for permission to use the building at the former Efford experimental horticultural station near Everton as its headquarters for two years.

Ms Cornish recently told the Daily Echo the hunt was on to find a permanent base for the NPA team in or close to Lyndhurst, as that is where its partner organisations, like the district council, Forestry Commission, English Nature and the Verderers have offices.

She said: "We recognise that there's no office that's immediately available, so we are now looking to move to a permanent headquarters in a couple of years."

But with a staff of about 80 people about to be employed, that poses a problem at the tiny offices currently allocated in a courtyard at the Forestry Commission's Queen's House, Lyndhurst.

Therefore finding spacious temporary accommodation for when the NPA takes on its full duties on April 1 next year has been a priority.

NPA spokesman Miranda Johnson said: "The decision hasn't been made whether it will be a wholesale move or an add-on to offices we've got at Queen's House.

"It looks like it will fill some of our accommodation requirements."

The office block, which is set among greenhouses at the former government-run Horticulture Research International facility - and is outside the New Forest boundary - is around five years old and includes a conference room.

Horticulture Research International closed in October 2003 with the loss of more than 30 jobs.

The station was originally opened as a Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food establishment in 1951.

The site is currently being sold in several lots.

Otter Nurseries of Ottery St Mary, Devon, has just bought 47 acres including 3.5 acres of glasshouses and heating equipment, and Lymington flower grower Derf Paton wants to build an 11-acre glasshouse on another part of the site.

First published: August 17, 2005