PLANS to demolish a methodist church in Netley in order to build a house could be given the green light

The application submitted to the Eastleigh Borough Council, proposes that the - now vacant - Netley Methodist Church should be partially demolished and transformed into a house.

In December 2016, the church was put onto the market due to the lack of demand within its congregation, and now the buyers of the property want to convert the place of religious worship into a four bedroom dwelling, with room for three car parking spaces.

As part of the demolition of the building, the existing entrance porch is proposed to be removed, with the back end of the building being cut back substantially.

Then a new entrance canopy and first floor will be created, without requiring alterations to the existing roof, and roof light and a hedgerow will be added to give occupants more privacy and better lighting.

The church is located on New Road and residents have had a mixed response to the application.

Ann Etteridge, who lives on New Road, said: “It’s just awful. We used to use the building for coffee mornings when the church first closed down, but we can’t anymore. Everything is being torn down for housing!”

Councillor Adam Manning added: I am particularly saddened by this news as I went there as a small child back in the seventies for their Sunday School and my wife and I were married there in 2000.”

While another resident who didn't want to be named, said: “I don’t have any objections, it’s about time something decent was built there! It will be sad to see the church go but it’s just not used for anything anymore. I had lots of memories in there but if it can’t be sued, it’s time to say goodbye.”

This is not the first time that an application to partially demolish the church has been submitted to Council.

On two previous occasions, it was proposed that two houses would be built on the site but were refused as the houses would be an “over development of the site” and would be “out of character” with the pattern of development in Netley.

Another resident, Sue Whitewick, said: “The other applications were rejected. Builders call it progress but they never build things in line with the rest of the village.”