NELSON'S most treasured landmark, St Mary's Church, should be torn down unless a use can be found for it, says a leading local councillor.

Conservative Roger Abbiss issued a "use or lose it" call on the imposing church, whose towering spire dominates the town centre, after describing it as a "festering sore" and a "blot on the landscape".

Councillors will hold an urgent meeting with the church's owners and the Royal Bank of Scotland, which holds the mortgage on the building, in the next fortnight to discuss its future.

The church, which has been closed for many years, is becoming increasingly derelict and its overgrown grounds are used by drug addicts and for tipping.

Last November, a 15-year-old girl was raped in the grounds and, a few weeks ago, vandals broke into the church and set fire to rubbish causing extensive damage.

Coun Abbiss told Pendle Council's Nelson area committee: "It's an absolute shame on Nelson that it's been allowed to get into this state. It's an absolute scandal it exists as it is. To say it is a blot on the landscape is an understatement.

"If there's no use for it better it's demolished and the land is put into use.

"We have a derelict church with grounds that are open to abuse and used for the worst crime imaginable apart from murder. Those grounds need to be secured and we need to determine what happens to the building.

"We can't allow this festering sore to continue for one year longer than it has been."

The committee agreed to take action under planning law to make the owners, two brothers, tidy up the grounds. But councillors were told the council has no authority to put up fencing to make the churchyard secure without the owners' permission.

The committee also agreed to look at the wider issue of providing a community centre to serve the surrounding wards of Whitefield and Bradley.

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