Baptist church reveals £3.5m plans for new building in Christchurch town centre

A BASE that is “in the heart of the community” is the multi-million-pound plan for Christchurch Baptist Church which wants to demolish a building to create a new place of worship.

An application to BCP Council has been submitted which shows a modern church with large areas of glazing.

Minister Chris Brockway told the A&T the main aim was to place “community engagement” at the top of their priorities along with providing more room for the congregation of nearly 300.

He said: “We are bursting at the seams. We have more people wanting to attend services than we can accommodate.

“We presently have a building that is unfit for purpose. There are many local groups that use our meeting rooms, but these are full up as the rooms are not large enough, really.

“There are many more groups we would like to engage with who help the community in many ways, and the new building will give us the ability to do that.”

Mr Brockway said one of the most important new facilities the modern chapel will be able to offer is a larger toilet with changing facilities, better equipped for the disabled.

He said: “It is very important to us that the church is open to everyone including people with profound disabilities.”

The original chapel in Bargates was built in 1874 when Christchurch had a population of 6,000 – it now boasts 50,000.

In 2015 it acquired number 51 next door, the site which it is proposing to demolish. The £3.5m scheme will see a church with an auditorium which can fit 100 people.

Mr Brockway said the church will be working with residents in nearby Beaconsfield Road to make that a residents-only street.

He added: “We have included parking with the application and are confident that we have enough for our congregation.”