Cafe plan to save derelict church 'encouraging'

A campaigner fighting to save a derelict church said plans to transform it into a cafe, shop and community space were a "beacon of hope and good news".

Grade II listed St Peter and St Paul's Church in Birch, Essex, has stood empty since 1990, with demolition weeks from being carried out in 2023.

Loess Overbury-Tapper, chair of campaign group Birch InSpire, said the community had voted on its preferred new use for the building, with the cafe idea emerging as the most popular.

The Diocese of Chelmsford, which owns the building, said the group had made "encouraging progress" and would decide in July whether to grant more time to save the church.

The group was given until June this year to meet "mutually agreed objectives which would lead into a detailed, fully funded and credible proposal as an alternative to demolition," a diocese spokeswoman said.

Ms Overbury-Tapper said the preferred transformation of the building would be "really useful to the community".

"Whether people just come and have a cup of coffee there, whether they just walk around the outside and access the graves - which they can't currently do," she said.

Birch InSpire said its aim was to save the church's spire - and that an architect who visited and assessed the site believed it could be kept along with the chancel at the other end of the building.

Ms Overbury-Tapper said Birch InSpire would be putting together a business case for how the building works would be funded before eventually submitting plans to Colchester City Council.

"I think it will leave something for our children as well, because it's a heritage listed building. It'll stay there for a very long time after us, and these days that's important," she added.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Chelmsford said it had been working closely with Birch InSpire (formerly Save Our Spire) over the past 18 months "to support them with their vision to save what they can of Birch Church".

"We look forward to a further progress report from Birch InSpire in June and CDBF trustees will again need to decide whether more time should be granted at their meeting in July," they said.

"We have always been committed to working with the local community to find the best, viable way forward for the future of Birch Church and this very much remains the case."

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