CHURCH leaders meet today to decide whether or not couples should be allowed to marry in the church of their choice.

The issue has split opinion, with some people fearing that picturesque churches will be booked up and less attractive, ones overlooked.

Others believe that it is a vital move to arrest the reduction in church weddings.

Members of the General Synod, the Church of England's governing body, meet in York today to vote on the issue as part of a five-day session.

At the moment, couples who want to marry in a parish where neither lives or works have to secure a licence.

The Synod has already backed an option whereby people can marry in parishes where they have a family home, have been baptised or confirmed, are regular worshippers or where their parents were married.

But a vote will be taken today on whether or not couples should be allowed to marry wherever they want.

John Dennis, lay chairman of Kirby Sigston Parochial Church Council, near Northallerton and chairman of North Yorkshire County Council, said it could lead to certain churches, such as St Lawrence, in Kirby Sigston, becoming "honeypots".

He said: "Attitudes are changing but I certainly believe that churches are there for the local people of the parish to use and they have been traditionally over the years. Everybody anywhere in the country is allocated to a parish so it is not that people haven't got a parish and we will end up with honeypots."

Derek Jago, lay reader in Escomb, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, said: "I can see that the more favourable churches that have a historical background and picturesque settings will complain that people are going to those churches for that particular reason."

Any changes agreed by the Synod are not likely to come into force until 2007.