Haslar crusader Councillor Peter Edgar has quit his role on the hospital's steering committee and vowed to wage war on the health chiefs who are closing it down.

The Gosport Council leader resigned from his post of three years, stating that board members of the Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust (PCT) had kicked him in the teeth with their decision to axe Royal Hospital Haslar.

Cllr Edgar said: "We are at war with the PCT. It is an anarchy, not a democracy. They haven't listened to a word we said. What's the point any more?"

Former Gosport GP of 35 years and fellow Haslar Task Force member Dr Philip Gray has also quit, branding the doomsday decision a "disaster for the community".

Health bosses hammered the final nail into the hospital's coffin at a heated meeting on Wednesday night.

Trust chief executive Ian Piper told the Daily Echo the move would mean Haslar would shut by summer 2008, when services would be transferred to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.

It was a crushing blow to the thousands of campaigners who have ploughed years into the battle to sustain facilities at the Gosport hospital, which provides invaluable surgery and treatment for patients across the south.

Petitions have even been taken to Downing Street, such is the strength of feeling on the loss of the facility, which has helped to reduce planned surgery waiting lists for other hospitals and boasts a top-notch diagnostic treatment centre.

But Cllr Edgar has assured campaigners that he is not giving up on the hospital and claims his resignation will enable him to fight a fiercer battle for the Task Force.

"The PCT plans to exploit Haslar to hit targets and then they will just throw all its investments in the waste bin," he said.

"But if we don't sit on the steering group, we can fight without having to co-operate within their constraints.

"At the meeting on Wednesday, the board listened to our deputations and didn't even have the guts to cross-examine us to determine the feasibility of what we were saying.

"They just ignored us and did the complete opposite. It's disgusting."

Dr Gray added: "I felt that PCT members were yes men for the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

"They disagreed with every decision we made. We felt it was time to go."

Gosport MP Peter Viggers approved of Cllr Edgar and Dr Gray's decision to resign, saying he was suspicious of the motives of the steering group when it was first set up.

He said: "I am sure it is the right thing for them to do.

"The PCT has held every possible consultation it could and has done everything it must do except for one small thing - to listen."

Fareham and Gosport PCT declined to make any comment on the resignations.