Radstock Town Council is to discuss their formal application to protect the town centre church, hopefully from falling into developers' hands.

The council has applied to have the building 'nominated', which will provide some protections from it being sold on.

The church, which was built in 1902, is geographically at the heart of the Radstock community but in recent years, accelerated under Covid, it is being less well used.

B&NES have ruled that it is an asset of community value - so important to the social well being or social interests of the community - and if this is formally approved the protection will hold for five years. So any approach made to sell or develop the building, which has one entrance on Foretescue Road, and another on The Street in Radstock, will have be formally announced to the council.

But this is only the first stage; now councillors need to find more ways to encouraged people to use the building, and keep the costs of running it covered.

In the application, Radostck Town Council stated that the church and centre was used on a regular basis by up to 20 groups, such as the Brownies and had in the past even been used for puppy training. The document states: " The church is considered a part of the community and many residents use the coffee mornings and café as their social ... a safe and welcoming place to rest and have an affordable cup of tea."

The church, which was repaired in 2004 following a small fire, currently has a congregation of 31.