CHURCH leaders are praying for guidance of the planning kind to ensure future worship in Elton.

All Saints' Parochial Church Council has applied for outline planning consent from Bury Council for a new church to replace the existing church, which is unsafe.

The 152-year-old church is riddled with dry rot, and the PCC says repairs would be too costly.

The PCC wants the building to be declared redundant - a decision that will have to be made by the Manchester Diocesan Pastoral Committee.

The plan is to build a new church and community centre near the site of the daughter church, St Francis, in Hebburn Drive, Bury.

Outline planning consent has been sought to establish whether the project can go ahead on the site.

The pressure group PASE (Preservation of All Saints', Elton) argues, however, that the church can be repaired at a fraction of the cost of a new church.

Mr John Rigby, chairman of PASE, said: "Time and time again we have asked how spending an estimated £500,000 on a new church building can be justified when our own findings show the existing church can be repaired and reopened for much less."

A spokesman for the applicants, Mr Peter Coope, said a decision on the future of All Saints' would not be made until it was known whether a replacement could be built in Brandlesholme.

"This is very much a fact-finding mission. If we do get the go-ahead from Bury planners, there is still a long way to go. All Saints' is a consecrated building and cannot be just brushed aside."

The plan is expected to go before the council's planning control sub-committee in the summer.

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