PUB owner Janet Southorn, who is at the centre of a planning row which has split a village near Devizes, hoped her period in limbo would by now be over.

Mrs Southorn and her husband Andy, who bought the George and Dragon in Erlestoke in 2013, had expected the eastern area planning committee to have ruled on the future of the pub last week.

But just days before the meeting was due to be held it was cancelled due to lack of business and now the plan to turn the pub into a home may not be discussed until April.

She said this week: "We just wanted it to be decided. Life has become very difficult for us. We are not allowed to live in the downstairs part of the pub and this is very hard as my mother who is in her 80s lives with us and is not well." The pub has been closed since April last year.

Erlestoke Parish Council is fighting the couple's plans to turn it into a house and a petition was started which has more than 150 names. It managed to get the pub declared a community asset and put in its own bid of £240,000 to buy it.

But this was turned down by the Southorns who believe it is worth much more. They say they spent a lot of money revamping the pub since they bought it in 2013 for £300,000.

Mrs Southorn said: "We spent thousands of pounds just on curtains." But now the couple, who have many years of experience in the licensing trade, want to be able to turn it into a family home for themselves and continue to let four small units on the side of the pub.

They point to a story written by the Gazette 16 years ago when then landlords Ian and Helena Hutcheon tried themselves to get permission to turn it into a house after four years of trying to sell it as a going concern,

Mrs Southorn said: "They had the same problems then as we do now. Pubs are closing every week. Even Wetherspoons is having to cut back."

But parish council chairman Stan Jonik believes the couple have not tried hard enough to make money from its letting rooms or the food side of the business.

He believes rooms are in big demand and if this part of the business was added to the pub trade it would be viable. The parish council is worried that if the pub closes it will only have the church left as the village does not have a hall and the shop has closed.

Wiltshire councillor Richard Gamble, who asked for the plan to be discussed by a committee rather than decided by officers, said he had been impressed with the quality and breadth of the response from the village.