A CHURCH that dominates the Coleford skyline is back on the open market, as plans to convert it for community use have been deemed unviable.

The decision, made by the Diocese of Glou- cester, comes as the Next Generation Community Association, looking for ways to give a new lease of life to St John the Evangalist Church, is disbanded.

Chair of the association, Marilyn Cox, told the Review: “The cost to restore and repurpose the church would be £1.95million and the market value afterwards was estimated at £450,000.

“Even though the church would have been saved from deterioration and would have become a creative arts and well-being centre, which we discovered from public consultation was what the community wanted, the diocese felt that the business case just didn’t stack up.

“People care about this building, but caring doesn’t save it.

“It’s been on the at-risk register since the 1980s.

“The diocese was clearly minded to look favourably at the price we gave for it if we could save it for community use, but we couldn’t show that it was sustainable.

“It will go back on the market and after three months the diocese will have to look at their options.”

Timing is also working against the community, Marilyn says.

With council elections coming up, any commitments from the town and district councils are only valid until the elections in May.

And the AGM report produced by the association cited Brexit as one of the factors affecting funding.

Marilyn said: “There is a huge amount of uncertainty. Funders are all looking at where their future resources will come from.

“The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is revisiting all its criteria and the new guidelines weren’t published in time for us.

“Other funders were taking their lead from HLF, or the National Lottery Heritage Fund as it’s now called.

“It’s very difficult to find the money needed to match fund from the community. We just don’t have the numbers as a small market town.

“The church is Grade II listed, which isn’t as important as a higher listing, and it’s not by a renowned architect, both of which put it lower down in funder priorities.

“We’d like to thank everyone involved who has done work and donated time and we’d still like to hear from anyone who may be able to help in future.”

Given how much already needs spending on the building, however, its future is looking increasingly uncertain.

It was previously on the market for two years and the diocese still want to see a business case from anyone willing to take it on.

“If there are no takers, the diocese will have to make a decision on the building’s fate,” Marilyn said. “It’s not impossible that it will be demolished. There’s a process to go through to pull down a listed building, but it can happen. Coleford Market House was pulled down in 1968 and the church could go the same way.”

Janet Marrott, director of Coleford Area Partnership, which supported the association with funding for a survey of the building, agrees.

“We can all see demolition on the cards,” she said. “There was no interest commercially before and any plan still has to be sustainable.

“When it comes down to it, the community didn’t care enough. They’re not sufficiently interested. It’s all very sad and it’s a sign of the times

“The congregation and then the association have worked so hard to save the building, but none of us can do anything for three months now while it’s on the market.

“In 1988, I was involved in the chamber of commerce and the church treasurer was looking for £1,000 each from local businesses to replace a lot of the windows at a total cost of £70,000. I told him at the time, if we’d had it we would willingly have given it, but we didn’t.”

Town mayor, Cllr Nick Penny, said: “I’d like to say how grateful we are to Marilyn and the association for the detailed work they have carried out on behalf of the community.

“Now that the committee has reached a conclusion, Coleford Town Council will consider the situation at the full council meeting on March 26. We have a role to play going forwards to find a sustainable way to protect the building in the landscape.”

St John the Evangelist was begun in 1878, with additional work completed in 1907. Worship ceased in 2012 before the building was formally closed in 2016..

Coleford Area Partnership will act as a point of contact to maintain an awareness of the church building in the community. They can be contacted on 01594 836469 or at [email protected]