WHEN hard-up church officials were told that they couldn't demolish a creaking old Methodist building, they came up with a cunning plan.

Instead of knocking it down they decided to sell it and give builders the chance to turn it into flats.

The plan will preserve the facade of the 130-year-old "listed" Tottington Methodist church hall, in Wesley Street, while at the same time raising much-needed cash to help maintain the nearby church building.

The church, on Market Street, has been plagued by dry rot and damp for the past 50 years and church officials have been desperate to raise the £250,000 needed to tackle the problem.

Now the church hall, which has Grade 2 listed status to protect its architecture, will be sold to developers to be converted into ten flats. The money raised will be ploughed back into urgent repairs at the church. In 1998, the church hall's "listed" status forced church officials to scrap plans to demolish the hall and rebuild the church on the same site as a modern-day neighbourhood centre.

Minister George Nuttall said this week: "We are delighted that our application to convert the church hall has gone through. It will certainly further the urgent process of repairing the church."

But the Rev David Clowes, Superintendent Minister for the Bury and Heywood Circuit, is disappointed with the compromise plan.

"Whilst I am pleased for the members of Tottington Methodist Church that they have been granted permission, I am extremely disappointed that the original scheme for a new building has had to be changed.

"The new building had been designed to serve the needs of the local community, and not just the members of the church. The cost of repairs and renewals in the current church building will probably be in excess of half a million pounds, and even then it will not provide anything like the facilities that we had intended. I can only say how sad I am that what would have been a valuable resource for the whole community has been lost."

Work on Tottington Methodist Church will include rebuilding part of a wall and major excavation work to tackle the damp and rot.

In the meantime the congregation will continue to use the church, which dates back to 1905, for worship.

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