Rochdale council has shelled out on 'rescuing' an historic church - despite fears it could relaunch as a community hub and put existing venues out of business. Bosses agreed to buy Littleborough United Reformed Church - which dates back to the mid 19th century - at the latest cabinet meeting.
It is understood the authority will pay a six figure sum for the church and former Sunday school building, which had previously been marketed at £300,000. Church elders say the decision to sell to the council was not an easy one, but the problems of looking after a 150-year-old building were becoming a ‘burden to the congregation’, potentially putting its future at risk.
The deal allows the congregation to continue worshipping at the Victoria Street church. A statement from the elders read out at the meeting hit out at ‘conspiracy theorists’ who had peddled ‘deeply upsetting’ rumours about the move.
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The mooted sale has proven highly contrentious locally, with discussions centering around the church becoming a new ‘community hub’ - potentially in direct competition with the boxing club and Coach House.
Coun John Taylor, leader of the council’s Conservative group, raised the issue during the public part of the meeting, on Tuesday night. “Why have we got a recommendation to purchase the premises when the report says it doesn’t know why we would want those premises?” he said.
“The conversations around this have been that this would be turned into a community hub, that has never been dispelled, so I can only assume that’s what is expected of it. That’s where places like the boxing club feel they are not on a level playing field."
He said nearby venues felt ‘disadvantaged’ by the move, as they would be faced with meeting costs with no help from the council.
“The fear is the Coach House is at risk of closing down if another community hub were to open up across the road from it,” he added. “It feels to me completely the wrong place to buy and open another community hub.”
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But council leader Neil Emmott argued there was a real danger the church could be left to go to ‘rack and ruin’ if the council failed to step in. “It could end up in the hands of a private developer who sits on it for donkeys’ years, lets the building go to rack and ruin, does nothing with the building, it becomes an eyesore and it attracts anti-social behaviour,” he said.
“There’s a real danger that if the council were not to step in and purchase this, that could well happen. And I’m quite sure that, residents of Littleborough, that’s the last thing they want to see happen - that building to go to rack and ruin and become a blot on the landscape.”
He also addressed fears that a new hub would be in direct competition with existing venues in the village. “I take the view this could be something completely separate that would not harm or have any detrimental effect on any voluntary sector community buildings in the centre of Littleborough,” he said.
“What I will suggest is that, were we to go ahead with this, that everybody works together as one and makes sure they are not treading on each others’ toes. Rather than a community hub you could have a community cluster, as it were, the boxing club, the Coachhouse and the church could work together. I don’t see why that can’t happen.”
His sentiments were shared by Coun John Blundell, cabinet member for economy and regeneration. “It’s cheaper, better and quicker to do it now and protect those groups that are in the church now than let some rogue builder have it,” he said.
And Coun Janet Emsley said it would be good for Littleborough and the synod would 'thank us for coming to the rescue of this place of worship'.
John Butterworth, director at the Coach House, acknowledged rumours had been 'rife' over what the church what would be used for and who was involved. But he felt somewhat reassured after listening to ‘the other side of the story’.
“The reasons the council are buying the place, I think, are valid,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting. I think buying the church, - rather than a developer getting it - or someone else getting it and letting it go to rack and ruin - is not a bad thing for the village. "
However, Mr Butterworth said he felt slightly uneasy that the council had not given any official indication of what the building will be used for in future.
“It’s just what they do with it afterwards we have the concerns about," he said. “It seems a strange thing that the council would buy it without having any idea of what they are doing with it."
He continued: “But if the council are true to what they are saying and they are buying it to stop a developer then I’m all for it.
"We would rather see a viable, decent building on our doorstep in the centre of the village than a developer converting it or knocking it down. It’s just what their intentions are with it, that’s the only grey area."
Kevin Hooson, of Hooson and Stuttard Opticians - also based on Victoria Street - said it was vital the council now consulted people over how the church would be used in future.
“As far as buying the church, if that’s how it’s got to be for protecting the village, okay,” he said. “But they need to have further discussions with people at the level they were having last night.”
Mr Hooson also welcomed assurance that the church facade would be protected.
Rochdale council cabinet met at Number One Riverside on Tuesday night (February 28).
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