CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save their village pub are hoping to be tasting more than success next week when planners meet to decide the fate of their local.

Lynn Farr, 37, co-owner of the Rock Cross Inn, Rock Cross, which closed in August, is bidding to turn the building into four three-bedroomed mews cottages and a bungalow.

But the move is being fought by outraged villagers who have stumped up nearly £200,000 to buy the pub and re-open it. Campaigner Peter Bill outside the Rock Cross Inn.

This week former landlord Richard Griffin said he believed the application would be thrown out when Wyre Forest District Council planners meet next Tuesday.

Since the pub was closed, he said the council had drawn up its Local Plan which outlined the need to protect rural businesses and community facilities including village pubs.

Mr Griffin said: "The Local Plan is quite clear about this and really backs up our cause. It would be very strange if, when the council has highlighted the need to protect the village pub, members of the planning committee were to allow the Rock Cross Inn to be turned into housing. We're very hopeful."

And he revealed the campaign had received a further boost last month when the real ale group Camra, whIch nationally launched its new good beer guide at the Bell Inn, Pensax, highlighted the Rock pub as a classic example of a village local which should be kept open.

He said two bids had been made to buy the Rock Cross as a going concern; a higher one by an unnamed individual in Bewdley and one by a villagers' consortium at "slightly under" the asking price of £200,000.

Mr Griffin said he had written to a number of individuals in Rock and the surrounding area, asking for pledges and had received 15 specific commitments ranging from £500 to £20,000.

These had enabled campaigners to secure the cash for a buy-out "quite comfortably," he added.

Mark Haslam, area organiser for CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale), said: "If the council were to grant permission for conversion it would be signalling open season on every pub and pave the way for asset stripping."

He described the proposed application as "bizarre" and said: "If the locals are prepared to buy and run the pub, that level of commitment guarantees an all-year trade."

Mrs Farr, who lives at the pub with her two children, has said she was forced to call time at the Rock Cross Inn because it was no longer a viable concern due to a lack of support.

Mr Griffin said if someone else wanted to buy and run the pub the consortium was happy to step back, but he warned campaigners would fight a decision to approve Mrs Farr's application.

He added: "It's totally down to the planning committee now. I would hope if its refused, the owner will act quickly and get on with the sale. We are hoping for a cheerful New Year."

District council officer Mike Parker confirmed the Local Plan stressed the need to support rural communities and "viable" village pubs, although it is not due to be adopted until 2003.