THE OWNERS of a village pub who have been at the centre of a long-running battle to legally use it as a home challenged Monmouthshire council at a hearing.

Jim and Jean Sharp of the Red Hart, Llanvapley, near Abergavenny were appealing against Monmouthshire council's decision to refuse a certificate to say that a change of use is lawful.

The couple ran the Red Hart public house until October 2002 when they ceased trading, blaming a steady decline in trade.

Locals formed a Red Hart Supporters Club and mounted a campaign to save the pub. In 2004 the council refused to allow them to turn it into a home which is lived in by the Sharps, their daughter and son-in-law and two children.

The couple applied for a certificate of lawful use on the basis they had occupied the vacant bar area as residential in breach of Planning control for more than four years, saying it is therefore now lawful but the application was refused and they appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

The council's enforcement manager told the planning inspector Iwan Lloyd at the Shire Hall on Tuesday, that an enforcement notice was served in November ruling that the areas of the bar cannot be used for residential use.

Local resident Les Taylor, of Firs Road argued that the ground-floor has not been lived in for the past ten years because the curtains were closed, windows boarded up and the front door not used.

Mr Sharps' son-in-law, Iain Catteroll said he closed the curtains to prevent intrusion and boarded up the windows for security reasons which were later removed.

Harriet Klymchuk, representing her grandparents, said the buildings' use has changed since the pub closed because there were four generations of family living in a limited space upstairs.

She said the bar had not been used as a bar for more than fours years and the majority of it was removed in 2006 to enable them to utilize the space for storage.

Mr Catteroll said unless the property is deemed a home it is impossible to take out a mortgage to carry out necessary repairs.

A decision is expected in six weeks.