A CENTURY-old town centre church is set to be converted into nine flats after Barnsley Council approved the plans earlier this week.
St Barnabas Hall, the church on Old Mill Lane, was built originally as a Catholic church in 1933 following the demolition of a previous building in the 1880s.
The site, comprising two church buildings connected together by single-storey extensions, was put up for sale in 2023 but is now vacant.
The buildings were originally Catholic churches and last used as a Masonic lodge and community and events space.
The reasons for sale are due to a declining number of attendees and the cost of running the buildings.
An application for the site to be turned into nine one-bedroom properties was originally submitted to the council in July last year after it had been purchased.
A report states: “The church use is no longer viable and was reluctantly advertised for sale in 2023.
“Churches have seen a decline in use over the years and many are being put to other uses.
“The site is located within a residential area.
“A conversion to residential would be the most obvious and suitable use to secure a long-term future for the buildings.”
A total of six objections were submitted to the council following the application being made public.
Concerns ranged from disturbance during construction, no parking and issues around the type of people that could live in the flats which could subsequently see a rise in antisocial behaviour in the area.
A local councillor and the council’s highways department had originally also raised the issue around no parking - but this has now been resolved.
The report added: “The highways department initially objected due to the lack off-street resident parking.
“However, additional information has been provided which sets out that the development would be advertised as having no parking provision to future residents.
“Both parking services and highways have reviewed the additional supporting information and are willing to accept this given the proximity to local transport connections.
“The development will provide much-needed residential accommodation on the edge of Barnsley town centre and therefore will positively contribute to the local housing supply.
“The social benefits associated with the housing supply is considered to outweigh concerns regarding the limited impact upon existing amenity.
“Overall, the development will convert an existing building within an established residential area and is therefore acceptable.”
In ajoint statement, Couns Nicola Sumner, Janine Moyes and Martin O’Donoghue told the Chronicle: “We believe as councillors we found a compromise in the development of Barnabas Church.
“The initial spec was for market value rentable properties which gave some reassurance of the quality of work we were looking at.
“However, one resident in particular kept raising concerns over the parking, so we door knocked the street in August last year to canvass residents and did a litter pick at the same time.
“As councillors we agreed that the existing residents only parking scheme would be under pressure by the flats proposed.
“New tenants would be allowed to apply for resident permits even though they were being sold without parking.
“We were told in the planning application tenants would use public transport being so close to town.
“The Highways Department had also conducted surveys which did find spare parking capacity at different times in the day.
“We want to praise the planning officer in charge of this case.
“She really listened and worked with cllrs to get the best outcome possible for residents.
“We are now looking at a much-needed restoration of a dormant church into living spaces which are to be let or sold in the understanding at the outset, tenants will have no right to apply for a residents permit as a condition of planning being approved.”
