A VICAR has vowed to continue the fight to give a popular but cash-strapped Blackpool church a facelift after councillors voted to block renovation plans.

The Reverend Michael Manley, of St John's Church, Cedar Square in the resort, says he is already in discussion with council planning officials after the "disappointing" decision from the development control committee on Monday.

It was hoped the 128-year-old Grade II-listed church - one of Blackpool's most well-known landmarks - would be granted permission by the council to continue with the latest phase of a long-running £800,000 programme of modernisation and improvements.

This would have included the creation of a dividing wall within the nave to separate the main body of the building into two sections. One to be used for traditional worship, the other to be home to a less formal congregation, which could also be hired out as a conference facility.

Revd Manley said: "We are very disappointed, mainly because the committee's decision has brought five years of planning and hard work to an abrupt end, but also because the church can simply not physically continue without the work.

"We've already had the case where a part of the building dropped off and smashed into the building shortly before my arrival a few years ago.

"And essential repairs, which are now ten years overdue, cannot be put off any longer.

"I'm already in discussion with the council planning officers to see what we can salvage of the plans and I'll be accepting help from anyone who can offer it, including God!

"Rest assured I'll be doing everything I can to ensure these plans are not consigned to the waste bin permanently."

A council spokesman claims the reason behind the committee's decision was that councillors: "thought the proposed alteration would have a detrimental effect on the character of the listed building." The is despite several heritage and civic groups lending their support to the renovation project, with only two groups - the Ancient Monuments Society and the Heritage Trust for the North West - disagreeing with proposals.

But Revd Manley is now concerned that the council's decision may jeopardise the future of a £360,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which was awarded to pay for the creation of a 'Heritage Centre' in the church's tower.

Revd Manley added: "We struggled for so long to find a source of funding for the church repairs and internal alterations.

"St John's didn't qualify for a English Heritage award as we weren't considered to be architecturally interesting enough.

"We even had to deconsecrate the church tower to secure the lottery fund as heritage centres cannot be created on church land.

"I'm now just praying that the council decision will not mean that this vital source of funding is taken away from us."