Church's hopes of building community centre dashed

The worshippers at Holy Cross Church decided to abandon any hope of a modern building after five years of efforts. They raised more than 100,000 towards the project.

They hoped the facility would replace the current wooden building on the site at the junction of the A259 Chichester Road and North Bersted Street.

But the church's vicar, the Rev John Quigley, said it had become apparent, after much discussion and soul-searching, that too many obstacles remained for the proposal to become reality.

'It's a great disappointment because people have worked so hard for this. It's like the end of a dream,' he stated.

'On the other hand, the reason we were doing the scheme was to try and provide better facilities for the church and the people of North Bersted.

'I think we can still do that with what we are now proposing. We can do it quickly so that the people who are here now can benefit from it.'

The latest intention is to re-roof, re-clad and insulate the hall. New windows and doors, a new kitchen and a general refurbishment will also be included in the work.

'We are also considering adding a conservatory which could serve as a cafeteria like a drop-in service for people of all ages, and an extra meeting room,' Mr Quigley said.

'We feel that we can still provide an attractive venue for a variety of community functions. The provision will be on a small scale but we hope that it will still meet many of the needs of our community.'

More money '“ an unknown amount so far '“ will be needed to meet the final cost of the improvements. But Mr Quigley met a surveyor on Tuesdayto begin the planning process. It was in 2002 that Mr Quigley launched the fundraising campaign with members of the congregation to replace the Holy Cross hall which dates from 1914 and has been in the church grounds since 1920.

They intended the new centre to contain modern rooms for services such as mental outreach and social workers to use.

A kitchen would also provide hot meals for a cafe.

A main hall seating 120 people and a committee room for 12 people would be provided as well. The single-storey building was expected to cost 1m.

But the government's go ahead for 650 homes in North Bersted with a large community centre on that estate proved decisive in scuppering the church scheme.

The Holy Cross parochial church council decided that two such centres in the same area would struggle to survive.

A new survey of need and an up-dated business plan would be required if the church centre was to stand any chance of going ahead.

This could mean revising the architect's plans and requiring further planning permission and diocesan approval.

Even if this was achieved, there would then be the requirement for the church-goers to renegotiate the legal agreement which binds the housing developer into providing the new estate community building.

The fees for the legalities could have been forced on to the parish to create a potentially crippling financial burden.

'This would have been too much for a small parish,' added Mr Quigley.