Church plan for industrial unit rejected
A church’s bid to turn a disused Aldridge warehouse unit into a permanent base has been thrown out by planners.
Walsall Council officers decided The Link Church’s proposal to take over Ledra House in Northgate, would be unacceptable because of the location and loss of industrial space.
The non-denominational church, which is made up of believers in Jesus Christ and led by Pastor Douglas Miller, uses Aldridge Community Centre for meetings and its Sunday services.
And it wanted to use Ledra House as a permanent home as it looked at increasing the current congregation number of 12.
The property has been empty for more than two years with efforts to market the storage and office space have proved to be unsuccessful.
In the application, agent Alun Nicholas had argued the lack of success in attracting new tenants meant it would not be beneficial to the area to reject the application.
He said: “The use of this building as a place of worship, primarily occupied at weekends and certain evenings, at which times other local occupiers will not be operational, will bring a vitality to this part of Northgate at times when it is otherwise somewhat sterile and unoccupied.
“With such vitality is brought the benefit of additional passive security to the adjacent and local properties.”
But in their decision, Walsall Council’s planning department said the proposal would result in a loss of industrial land and was an inappropriate location for a church.
They said: “The proposed development would involve the change of use of a site identified as retained local quality industry.
“The proposal has failed to demonstrate that the proposed use is in response to a local need.”
