Row over church building plans

Plans for a new entrance to a Kidderminster church have come under fire.

National charity the Victorian Society fears a canopy planned to cover the steps, would set a precedent for alterations at other churches.

Now talks are to take place over ways to make improvements while protecting the basic structure of the building.

The new entrance is linked to a major repairs scheme for the building in the town centre next to the River Stour.

Named after the famous English Puritan cleric Rich-ard Baxter who lived and worked in Kidderminster between 1641 and 1661, the church badly needs repairs to its cracked spire and roof.

A grant of £115,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage is expected to help pay for repairs to stonework, stained glass windows and the East roof of the building which was erected in 1885.

The Rev Gerald England said: "The 120-year-old Bax-ter Church is the only one of its type in the United King-dom and is the fourth building to be on this site.

"The plan is to make the church more welcoming involved a canopy over the entrance.

"Repairs are also badly need-ed to the spire and the stonework is sandstone which the Victorians loved but which doesn't wear well."

The plans would see the church used as a major community centre supported by all denominations.