Take the plans for a new hall as Gospel – Local News – Leighton Buzzard Observer.
A new gospel hall could be on the horizon after an “unfortunate administrative error” forced the plans to be withdrawn earlier in the year.
An application for a small gospel hall at 167 Stanbridge Road, Leighton Buzzard, has been submitted on behalf of The Bidwell Gospel Hall Trust.
The Gospel is part of the worldwide Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, which is a charitable organisation representing a local group of believers.
The Gospel hope that the location can be used for local meetings through the use of existing vacant industrial premises, which has been empty for two years.
Trust spokesman Andrew Hayman said: “The local Brethren community live in and around the towns of Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Ordinarily these families would travel to one of the three existing gospel halls in Dunstable and Houghton Regis.
“Due to the increasing numbers of our congregation, and in view of reducing unnessary travel, it has become essential to locate an additional gospel hall in the area to serve the needs of these families.
“The location is ideally suited to our needs as it is close to where several families of our congregation live.”
If the proposal gets the go- ahead all of the existing buildings to the east of the site will be demolished and the strip adjacent to Marley Fields will be improved and managed for additional parking.
Earlier this year a planning application was submitted by Carlton Industrial Ltd for a new gospel hall, but concerns were raised regarding the ‘specific nature of the use’.
There was also an ‘unfortunate administrative error’ in the application that said 70 car park spaces would be needed, forcing the company to withdraw.
But after pulling out from the original application, the church circulated a leaflet to its neighbours to avoid further confusion and clearly explain more about the Gospel, the proposed site layout an explanation of the typical use and examples of other Brethren uses in the community.
It is thought that the venue will fit 160 people and up to 40 vehicles and activity is expected to be four to five hours per week on Sunday, Monday and Friday. It is suggested that there will be significant environmental gains with this by improving the outlook for residents.
Mr Hayman added: “Our proposed development would provide low-key community use with low levels of activity. On the other hand, reopening the site for commercial activity would lead to much more intensive use, potentially for the full day every day. This would create a lot more traffic and pollution.”