Hayling Island Residents' Association is furious after being offered the cash amid a bitter row over the former Rose in June pub in Selsmore Road.

Developers Monterrey Limited says the cash could help fund a parish council or community centre – which residents on the island have been campaigning for.

But Paul Fisher, the association's chairman, claimed the cash was being offered to quieten opposition to the pub redevelopment.

Residents have been fighting against plans to redevelop the site into 11 dwellings, including flats and houses.

They want the pub, which closed in 2005, to be retained for the community – either as a pub, a new police station or community venue.

The campaign hinged on the fact that the site had a 200-year-old barn, a Grade-II listed building, which could not be bulldozed.

But a bitter blow was dealt in May when the barn was razed to the ground in an arson attack – the culprits of which have still not been found.

In the latest twist, the residents' association has now received an e-mail stating that £50,000 would be offered if it backed the proposed development.

Richard Greenwood, agent for Monterrey Limited, said the contribution could be worked into a Section 106 agreement with the council, so the cash could only be spent to enhance the local community.

But Mr Fisher said: 'It's £50,000 to go away.
'We don't intend to take up the offer.
'We would much rather the site is retained for the community.'

And he added: 'We do not feel that £50,000 is a significant enough sum to compensate for its loss, nor enough to fund an alternative resource for the island's needs.'

Mr Greenwood said it would be difficult to retain the site as a pub, as pubs were closing down across the region.

He said: 'The pub sadly closed a couple of years ago. In planning terms, the pub is considered to be a community use, although it is a private commercial use.'

And he added: 'We are not trying to buy them off.

'We are just trying to regenerate this site.'