Planning bid to save village church refused

THAKEHAM parish church is thinking again after planners refused its bid to build eight homes to fund restoration work.

On Tuesday Horsham District Councillors discussed proposals to build a mixture of three, four and five-bedroom properties on land south of Venters, Storrington Road, Thakeham.

The money raised from development would have gone towards restoring the 1,000-year-old St Mary’s Parish Church.

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A similar application for 10 houses was refused by the planning committee in November.

Local member Cllr Philip Circus (Con, Chanctonbury) was in favour of the plans. He said: “This is a church that has been faced with closure and with all that means to the people of Thakeham, that is why this development is so important.”

It also had support from nearly 200 members of the public as well as Thakeham Parish Council.

But other councillors said because it did not meet relevant planning criteria, they felt they could not support it.

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After much debate all but two members voted against the officers’ recommendation to approve it.

A spokesman from the Diocese of Chichester said this was by no means the end for the parish church. He said: “The church has got a number of options to consider and that may include resubmitting the application.”

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