A derelict church in South Gloucestershire, built in 1741, will be getting an injection of almost £700,000 to refurbish it and make it fit for use once again.
Whitfield Tabernacle in Kingswood has been derelict for nearly three decades due to complicated planning issues and viability concerns.
The building, which dates back to 1741 and is widely regarded as the birthplace of the Methodist movement, was left ruined by a fire in 2000.
But now it seems it could be brought back to life and reopened to the public thanks to hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding from the West of England Combined Authority (Weca).
Back in 2018 Weca announced it would invest £10million into transforming three high streets across the region as part of the project.
In South Gloucestershire, Kingswood was chosen as the pilot scheme and the area was expected to receive around £3m.
And last year it was announced that some of the High Street funding would be used to kick-start a scheme which could see Whitfield Tabernacle brought back into use.
Now WECA has approved a business case for stabilisation work and awarded a grant of £682,000 to repair, re-roof and re-open the Grade-I listed building.
The Whitfield Tabernacle Trust is proposing to create a Performing Arts Centre at the historic venue.
It is part of a wider regeneration plan for the Conservation Area site, which includes the Grade-II listed Masters Church and the adjoining graveyard which has been derelict and overgrown for some 27 years.
Housebuilder Crossman Homes has planning permission to convert Masters Church into 19 flats, and also build three new homes and a park on the site.
The developers are also working with the Trust to create the community space.
The existing graveyard will be turned into a public park space and transferred to South Gloucestershire Council.
Crossman Homes is working with council planners and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to sympathetically restore and protect existing graves on the site.
Leader of South Gloucestershire Council Toby Savage said: “The Conservation Area has suffered from decades of neglect despite many efforts to intervene from the public and private sector and when I and the other WECA members came together to discuss a dedicated fund for High Streets, this was exactly the sort of longstanding challenge we wanted to tackle.
“The regeneration of the Whitfield Tabernacle plays a significant part in the bigger vision we have for rejuvenating Kingswood and this funding will help us significantly to seize this opportunity, not only to bring this run-down site back into public use, but to deliver new and exciting services.”
The authority has also agreed to spend the Love our High Streets funding to purchase around eight solar-powered compactor bins for Kingswood high street which will hold up to 10 times more waste than conventional bins.
It has also spent £20,000 on a compact electric road sweeper.
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