A CHURCH in Hereford could be demolished as the land it stands on is wanted as part of a development for a care and nursing home.
The Church Commissioners has launched a consultation on its plan to demolish the closed church of Saint Barnabas, in Hereford, and sell the site.
If the plan goes ahead after consultation, the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance will sell the site so it can be redeveloped as a care home.
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Since 2008, the church, off Venns Lane, had been used for community purposes and for occasional worship, with the upper portion being leased to a local charity.
But the bid said the continued use was not felt to be sustainable, particularly as it was in need of investment to address several issues.
It said the church, built in the 1980s, was no longer needed by the parish of St Peter, which has three other church buildings, and it was declared closed for regular public worship in 2019.
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In March 2020, a scheme was made providing for the church to be leased to the Oasis Church, an independent evangelical church. But the bid said it was not possible to proceed with the lease.
The church was then marketed alongside surrounding land owned by the Diocese of Hereford and it proposed to demolish the church building for inclusion in the development of the site.
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The chosen developer currently proposes to provide a care and nursing home on the site, subject to permission from Herefordshire Council.
On the north side of the building was a small garden of rest which contained interred cremated remains.
The remains have been exhumed under the authority of a faculty and reinterred in the churchyard at Holmer, or elsewhere at the families’ request.
Consultation is open via the Church of England website until March 20.
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