THEY thought they would be torn apart forever when the bulldozers moved in to flatten their homes.

Neighbours Pam Winward and Pam Squires took their battle to save their Horton Heath bungalows right to 10 Downing Street with a personal plea to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The two pals also staged a peaceful banner protest in the Eastleigh Council chamber.

They thought they had won their campaign when Eastleigh Council blocked plans by The Atlantic Housing Group to flatten the bungalows in Burnetts Fields and Burnetts Gardens and build flats.

However, their hopes of continuing to live alongside each other were dashed when the housing association won a planning appeal.

The two Pams always vowed that if they had to move they would try to stick together.

Nearly two years ago Pam Winward, 70, told the Daily Echo - "We have always been good neighbours and when we move we would like to be near one another."

Now their wish has come true: they are now living just a stone's throw away from each other in same road in Bishopstoke.

Pam Squires, 72, who moved into her Sayers Road bungalow in July, said: "We are about four gardens away and if we stand on tiptoe we can shout to one another."

Her pal Pam has just moved into a similar two-bedroom bungalow after being the last resident to move from the Burnetts Fields and Burnetts Gardens area where five bungalows and three garages are being demolished to make way for a new development.

Pam Winward, who turned down about 12 other possible moves because she wanted to live near to the other Pam, said: "I only moved in just a few days ago but I have already settled in and feel really at home. We had supper together to celebrate.

Pam Squires said: "It is wonderful that we are together again and a happy ending to a saga that went on for about three years.

"We can now continue to live our lives without stress as neighbours once again."

A spokesman for The Atlantic Housing Association said: "It is a wonderful result that they have been reunited."

He said that subject to the disconnection of services demolition work in Burnetts Fields and Burnetts Gardens would start on April 3.