REGULARS at a Southampton pub received the best New Year's present of all this week.
Drinkers at the Elephant and Castle in Bursledon are toasting the news that their watering hole could be saved from the wrecker's ball after all.
Two years ago, the Daily Echo revealed how the pub in Bursledon Road was due to be demolished to make way for 54 homes - sparking a long-running campaign by residents to save it.
Now, fresh proposals for the pub have been put forward which could see it saved for the community - if planning bosses at Southampton City Council can be persuaded to give the revised scheme the green light.
David Wilson Homes had originally planned to knock down the Victorian pub and build blocks of flats on the site.
But the controversial plans were thrown out by planning bosses following a long-drawn-out campaign by residents culminating in a two-day planning inquiry in September this year.
Now, a fresh set of plans to redevelop the site by Chandler's Ford-based architects Highwood Construction have been unveiled.
They would see the pub saved and refurbished - and a smaller number of homes built on the site.
Nigel Shannon from Highwood Construction told a meeting of around 30 regulars and residents at St Monica's Junior School in Sholing that the pub had already been leased to pub firm George Gale & Company and would be re-opening within the next three weeks.
And if city planning chiefs gave the go-ahead to the firm's revised scheme for the site, the pub would be refurbished and bought by the pub chain.
He said: "We are very aware of the concerns and the amount of concern and support there has been for the retention of the pub in the past, and we have sought to address that in this scheme."
An alternative proposal to knock down the pub and build homes on the site will also be presented to city planners in the New Year in case the project to retain the pub was thrown out by city bosses.
But Mr Shannon added: "We have a preference to see the pub retained."
Speaking after the meeting, campaigner and pub regular Ernie Rhodes, 73, said: "With the scheme we had before, we would have lost everything but this scheme is a project that looks as if it will keep everybody happy."
Fellow campaigner, Graham Chapman of North East Road, who spearheaded the battle to throw out David Wilson Homes' original proposals, added: "I am delighted that we won the appeal with the support of the signatures we collected to my petition.
"Of the two applications we have seen, the first scheme is the one that should win the day."
Sholing Councillor, Gavin Dick, said: "It is a vast improvement on the previous scheme and the retention of the pub is a fantastic thing for the community."
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