Historic Conygre House in Filton has been given a temporary reprieve to allow local people to build up a case to keep it for community use.

The building is owned by South Gloucestershire Council and in 2005 was one of a number of properties the authority said it wanted to dispose of to help fund new offices in Yate.

But a Friends of Conygre House group was formed to try and save the premises, with hundreds of people signing a petition to prevent it being sold off.

Now its sale has been put on hold after a meeting between the campaign group, councillors and council officers.

Ken Brock, chairman of the Friends group, said he was pleased to have won the reprieve, subject to the building passing a health and safety check.

Talks also have to take place to decide how the community could pay for its use of Conygre House, which could involve buying it or renting it from the council through a trust.

Mr Brock, 71, who lives near the building, said: "This is a good step forward but it is a temporary reprieve and one that is subject to a lot of other factors.

"If the premises pass the health and safety checks, I would like to be able to at least rent it for a peppercorn fee for a time, while the future of the place is sorted out permanently."

The house is one of the oldest buildings in Filton and has faced a number of threats in its time.

Eight years ago, there was anger at a plan to knock it down to make way for housing, but it was given a reprieve on that occasion.

In its time it has been occupied by housing staff and it was later used by the Merlin Housing Society, which took over South Gloucestershire's stock of council houses.

It is currently unoccupied and although too many alterations have meant the former farmhouse and barn cannot be listed, they still form a landmark feature in an area that has lost many other buildings of historic interest.

Local people launched their campaign because they feared the house could be knocked down to make way for housing or be converted into flats.

Mr Brock said a number of skilled people in the area could be brought together to restore the premises, if the Friends group was eventually able to secure it.

The decision to dispose of Conygre House was taken when South Gloucestershire Council was run by all three political parties

Property chief, Councillor Allan Higgs, said the campaign group had put forward a strong case for putting on hold the previous administration's plans, and to instead work with the local community to try to come up with something which could satisfy all the parties involved.