Diocese to sell off vicarages

Vicarages and church-held land across the Lichfield Diocese are being sold off to raise between £5-6 million for the church.

In total 25 vicarages will be sold from the diocese.

This will include sites in Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Walsall and parts of Sandwell.

Gavin Drake of the Lichfield Diocese said it is being forced to look closely at its investments and how it can raise cash to support the clergy with up to £6million – through the sales.

He said the sale of the houses has become possible due to falling clergy numbers and the merger of some parishes. He also revealed that some larger properties are being replaced by smaller ones.

So far it has been announced that four vicarages in Stoke will close their doors for good and be sold off although a comprehensive list of closures is not yet available.

Mr Drake said: "We are trying to act as trustees to ensure that we don't put too much strain on local communities when it comes to funding the clergy.

"Our aim was to reduce our housing stock by 25 – between the start of 2006 and the end of 2007. Lichfield is very poor in comparison to other dioceses and have areas, including Birmingham and Derbyshire taken from us in the last 100 years, taking income away."

In Stafford the archdiocese this week submitted an planning application to convert a barn on 'Glebe land' – land belonging to the church – to a home, in bid to raise capital for investment.