A FAREHAM landlady has been given an 11th hour reprieve for the pub she describes as the "heart of the community" after council planning chiefs unexpectedly turned down an application to build flats on the site.

Val Harty, 52, who has run the popular Redlands Inn for eight years, told the Daily Echo that, although the pub seems doomed, she has been given a stay of execution and knows in her heart that the battle is not over.

"I'm homeless and jobless without that pub," she said, choking back tears.

"But it is my life and it is the heart of the community. I knew it wouldn't go today - we love it too much."

At a meeting last night, planning officers refused an application by Enterprise Inns, who lease the pub to Val, because they were not satisfied the 21 new flats could be accommodated on the site.

The firm wants to build 17 two-bedroom and four one-bedroom apartments in blocks which are two, two-and-a-half and three storeys high where the Redlands Lane pub now stands.

Val only found out about the proposals after reading notices posted outside the building at the end of last year.

By then she had already renewed her contract and ploughed thousands of pounds into refurbishments out of her own pocket.

She said: "I cannot believe how I've been treated. They say the pub's isn't doing well but that's not true.

"If they spent the amount of money they are spending on this application on the pub it would be even more brilliant. We're not giving up."

Neighbours and regulars Curt, 45, and Julia Ogden, 40, of St Michael's Grove, said the pub is a meeting place for sports teams and people from all over the community: "That pub is the hub of the community. Families go there because it is safer than going to town.

"But it's only rules and regulations that count these days."

Val, her 22-year-old daughter Jessica and partner Bill Thomas, who all live on the premises, have taken this latest decision as a good omen for the future.

Committee chairman Councillor Nick Walker stressed that, although the outline application was refused this time, regrettably the pub could not be saved just because it was popular in the community.

He said: "It's not up to the council whether the pub stays or goes, but it is up to us to decide what goes in its place and we can refuse this application if we are not satisfied it is suitable."

Anna Budge, an agent for Enterprise Inns, said trade was declining at the pub despite efforts to boost takings.

She said: "We will have to take stock of the decision made tonight before making our next move."