SAINTS' famous red and white stripes could soon be immortalised on Southampton's skyline if plans to paint one of the city's tallest tower blocks in the club's colours are approved.

Tonight, council planning chiefs will meet to decide whether Albion Towers should change from grey concrete to vibrant red and white stripes.

However the plans will see two parts of the city council go up against each other at tonight's meeting, with the housing team putting the plans forward and the planning department objecting.

The 15-storey block overlooks Saints' St Mary's Stadium, and housing chiefs say it would be repainted as part of a project to improve wall insulation, replace windows and re-clad the exterior.

Council housing chief Warwick Payne said there was support from residents for the move, with 35 out of 47 households consulted on the scheme in favour.

He said: "It was overwhelmingly the favoured choice by the residents in the building to go for the red and white colour scheme.

"The reason why red and white was put forward as a colour scheme is that Albion Towers is adjacent to St Marys and therefore the idea is to have Albion Towers coloured in a similar colour scheme to Southampton Football Club's colours.

"We have spoken to the club about the concept and they are on board with the proposals.

"Indeed we have even had officers go to the club shop to see the exact shade of red in Saints' colours so we can make sure it is exactly the same."

Yesterday there was a mixed response from residents who the Daily Echo spoke to, with some in favour and others against.

Justyna Turczyk, 25, a waitress said: “I’m happy with that. I think it will look nice and clean. Hopefully they will change the windows too because it’s quite cold", while Lida Ahmadyar, 30, a mum-of-three, said: “I think it’s a good idea. It will look nice and new and red is a nice bright colour.”

However Ashraf Khan, 40, a dad-of-three said: “I would be happy if they just painted it white or cream. I think red’s a bit bright" and Sakhile Ngwenya, 39, a support worker, said: “It’s not nice. Red is just too bright. It would be better in a different colour.”

One man who didn’t want to be named said: “I’m a Chelsea fan so I will have to move.”

However the council's planning department have objected to the plans ahead of tonight's meeting of the planning and rights of way panel.

In their objection, they say: “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.”

Cllr Payne said that, if approved, work could start in May and be completed by March next year.

The project is part of the citywide ECO programme, where £21m of money from the council's housing budget and £6m from British Gas is being used to carry out insulation and other improvements at 1,500 council properties.

Other buildings which will see improvement works include Sturminster House, Shirley Towers, Milner Court and 1,000 properties in Thornhill.