Plan for homes on condemned church site rejected

Plans to build nine new homes on the site of a "condemned" church have been rejected after concerns the site would become "overdeveloped".

Developers Meronford had sought permission to knock down the empty Fordhouses Methodist Church off Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, and replace it two and three-bedroom houses.

However, the City of Wolverhampton Council said the site had been established for community use and called the plan's layout, design and landscaping "poor".

A report from the local authority added: "The offer from a fitness centre operator would have been a better use of the building".

Concerns were also raised that the plans were cramped and the gardens were too small.

"The number of houses should be significantly reduced and provided with far larger rear gardens to respect the character and appearance of the surrounding pattern of development," the council added.

The church closed in March 2020 due to falling congregation numbers and had been condemned by the council, according to the application by Birmingham-based developer Meronford, after its roof collapsed and exposed asbestos.

The developer had originally planned to build 13 homes on the site, however the council rejected the proposition in 2023 and said the scale of the plans would be "too intensive" for the area and bemoaned the loss of a community facility.

The revised plans were "in keeping with the character of the area" according to Meronford, which added that it was "uneconomic" for the church to have stayed open or reopen.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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