PLANS have been put forward to turn a Thurnscoe church into a storage unit for a local housebuilding business.
St Hilda’s Church, based on Hannover Street, was built in 1935 and is currently owned by the Diocese of Sheffield.
It was originally built to accommodate the miners in the area and in 1980, coal mining accounted for 81 per cent of male employment.
But, like with many churches across Barnsley, dwindling congregations and a subsequent drop in funding resulted in the church officially closing its doors for worship in 2017.
The Church of England made the difficult decision to close the church after cracks appeared in the east wall and the boiler broke in December 2016.
Thieves then broke into the site, entering through a small window and stealing a crucifix, candlesticks, a reading desk and other metal items.
Eight years later and a prospective buyer of the church has now submitted plans to turn it into storage space for his homebuilding business - and he wants to build a two-metre-high fence around it.
A report states: “The applicant is the prospective purchaser, and he lives adjacent to the application site.
“The applicant operates a small housebuilding business and is seeking to use the building principally for general storage.
“The applicant also wishes to use the building occasionally to carry out admin duties and hold meetings with clients.
“The new use would not have staff and will only be used/ visited on an ad hoc basis by the applicant.”
No ‘bulky’ items will be kept on the site but the plans to erect the fencing are seen as important.
The report added: “The applicant would visit the property to pick up and drop off general building items as and when the need arises.
“This will be carried out in the applicants own vehicle, which will either be his own car or transit van.
“The applicant lives adjacent to the site so he will walk to the site for security checks, building maintenance and to carry out admin work.
“There would be no bulky goods stored on site - such as bricks, blocks or aggregates - as they are delivered direct to the building sites.
“The site is surrounded by residential properties, and the applicant lives directly behind the site.
“Therefore, the site benefits from natural surveillance.
“However, to improve security and to protect the church grounds, the application includes a proposal to erect a two-metre high fence with gates to the side and front.”
Coun Sue Bellamy told the Chronicle: “The church has been closed since 2017.
“The applicant is local to Thurnscoe and the company employ local people.
“They wish to use the building as storage for construction equipment.
“They also say that they will maintain the building to preserve it.
“It will be fenced off to prevent any antisocial behaviour which in my opinion can’t be bad for the area.”
A total of 13 neighbouring properties have been made aware of the plans with no appeals to date.
Public consultation ends on August 25.
