ANGRY residents have condemned a decision to recommend that a village church is closed for worship.

Following months of consultation, the parochial church council of St Laurence's Church, in Middleton St George, has told the Church Commissioners that the church should be closed.

However, in a meeting of the parish council, villagers rounded on the Venerable Nick Barker, the archdeacon of Auckland, for the decision, claiming there was a hidden agenda to build a new church in the village.

Mr Barker denied the accusations and said that the recommendation for closure has come about because of structural problems with the church. The church has been closed for nearly four years and services are held in the local school.

Mr Barker said nearly £300,000 will be needed to repair the church and underpin its foundations.

However, this was no guarantee of permanent success.

The structural problems were long-standing, he said, as evidenced by a letter sent by a vicar in 1899, saying that parts of the building already had to be underpinned.

Mr Barker said: "My real concern is not only what it costs, but what the risks lie to any body which takes on responsibility for the building.

"The point is that possibly the building could be saved and the question is at what cost."

Nevertheless, villagers were concerned that the church was pushing ahead with the plans without listening to the views of the local populace.

Parish council chairwoman Doris Jones said English Heritage was opposed to the demolition of the church, although it was not necessarily against the removal of the vestry.

Local resident John Wheeler said: "The insurance company closed the church on the grounds that the ceiling was collapsing in places where the congregation was sitting, which is clearly a hazard for people inside the building.

"They didn't, as far as I'm aware, make any comment on the outside."

Mr Barker said the Church Commissioners would ultimately decide the fate of the building.

In other parts of the country, he said, trusts had been set up which repaired the churches and then reopened them for worship.

If the church was sold, the memorial garden would be kept, said Mr Barker.

However, one female resident, said: "I put my family there because it was the centre of the village and they were Christian people and I wanted them in a Christian area.

"If we start demolishing the church, is that the right place to have put my family?

"You have to draw a difference between the emotional and the financial expense to the village."

A one-month consultation is likely to take place in September and the parish council agreed unanimously that they would object to the closure of the church in the strongest possible terms.