Ben Rhydding residents are uniting in a fight to save the heart of their community - amid rumours that the Wheatley Hotel has been sold in a £1.6 million property deal.

Petitions are being circulated and Ilkley MP Ann Cryer and Ilkley district and parish councillor Anne Hawkesworth have both thrown their weight behind a campaign to keep the pub.

The Wheatley, which was a focal point for community life, closed seven months ago and has remained shut despite repeated assurances from its owner, Punch Taverns, that it would be 'opening soon'.

Now local householders fear the land has been earmarked for a major housing development - but are determined to do everything they can to keep and revive their only pub.

Electrical contractor and Wheatley Lane resident Sandy Macpherson is one of those distributing a petition calling on Punch to re-open the Wheatley as soon as possible.

He said: "It was more than just a good place to go for a drink, this is a community asset which has been lost.

"It was part of local life in Ben Rhydding and used for all sorts of things, functions, parties, social and fund-raising events. All sorts of local groups and people met there who currently have nowhere to go.

"Ben Rhydding is a distinct village and community in its own right and the Wheatley was a social hub in many ways. There has been a vacuum ever since it closed. We are very concerned that it now looks as if Punch might try to sell it for development, because there's a fairly big chunk of land there.

"I expect hundreds of people to sign this petition. We took it up to the conservation meeting last week and had people queuing to sign it.

"Punch have made a big issue on their website about how 'the pub is the hub' of a small community, but they have closed our hub down!

"We are a little late getting a campaign going because we were told and told to hang on, that somebody would be taking over it, only to find out eventually that they're looking to sell the place.

"But there is a lot of concern here and we already have around a dozen people out collecting signatures."

Chestnut Close resident Ian Anderson, meanwhile, was one of those who kept a close, and sceptical eye on developments at the hotel last year.

Mr Anderson says he believed the pub and its land had in fact already been sold for a seven figure sum to a housing developer, although Punch insist no deal has been struck.

He said: "I have heard from a reliable source that a planning application to build 40 apartments on the site is expected to be submitted in February.

"I think that will be the time to co-ordinate our actions and send in written objections. Since raising this in December I have had a lot of phone messages from various concerned parties, and there's an enormous groundswell of feeling in Ben Rhydding about the loss of the Wheatley.

"There are around 20 people who want to be active in any campaign and a whole lot more, I believe the whole of Ben Rhydding, will get behind and support it.

"We will be strongly petitioning the council not to allow a change of use for the pub. We are very keen to keep it not just as an amenity for existing residents, but for all the people coming to live in the new houses which are being built."

A spokesman for Punch, however, said the situation had not changed since before Christmas and that the Wheatley's future was still up in the air.

Asked about a £1.6 million sale, the company would only repeat the statement it issued before Christmas. It said: "The pub has been closed for several months and in that time we have actively been seeking to recruit a new licensee.

"We are open-minded to all suggestions concerning the future of the pub which would be beneficial to the community. No deal of any sort has been secured at this stage."

Meanwhile, Coun Hawkesworth, who is also Bradford Council's environment chief, said she hoped Ben Rhydding's new conservation area status would help.

She said: "In principle I'm in favour of keeping the building as it is and of keeping it as a local pub. I can't for the life of me accept that there isn't a demand for a local pub in Ben Rhydding.

"The Wheatley has had a place in many people's lives around there and I'm sure a lot of people hold it in affection.

"I have been very anxious to get the Ben Rhydding conservation area accepted and one of the main reasons has been because of seeing the way things were going with the Wheatley Hotel.

"Conservation Area status should at least effect the retention of the actual building, and that should help the whole process of keeping it as a pub."

The pub has not traded since June, 2002, when the then landlord David Woolley, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, blamed its closure on the knock-on effects from the foot and mouth outbreak.