THE Alton Society has spoken out against a proposal which would turn the United Reformed Church into town houses, losing for ever the opportunity to restore it to full community use.

In a letter to East Hampshire District Council planners, chairman Geoff Nicholas, stresses that the Alton Society does not consider it appropriate to relinquish such a "potentially valuable community asset".

"Once the church goes for housing it will be an opportunity lost for the development of a community building and I can't imagine where we would get that opportunity again," he later told The Herald.

Like Alton Town Council, Mr Nicholas believes the time has come to fully investigate all potential community use.

Furthermore, he says, the Alton Society does not consider that, if the church were to be restored for community use, it would necessarily be non-viable.

The Alton Building Preservation Trust was unable to come up with a viable solution when it considered taking on the church for use as balcony office space with hall facilities for general use below,

Mr Nicholas believes that, with sufficient pooling of resources by more than one user group, the building could be developed, maintained and run as a viable community concern.

Referring to its possible conversion to a theatre, Mr Nicholas added: "I am sure there are other people out there who would, for example, be keen to use the building in partnership with a theatre company."

With reference to the current plan by PMC Construction and Development Services of Portsmouth to turn the listed building into three town houses, Mr Nicholas points out that, in the opinion of the Alton Society, the addition of two further floor areas to accommodate the upper storeys of the three proposed dwellings would result in a complete loss of space which would "destroy the integrity of the church interior."

Members also feel that there is insufficient land on the church site to provide adequate car parking and open space amenity areas for such a development.

Furthermore, while the proposed elevation treatment is not considered detrimental to the building, the inevitable soil vent pipes, boiler flues and extractor fan vents, none of which are shown on the plans would, members believe, have a "considerable impact".

In conclusion, Mr Nicholas has sought to emphasise the deep concern among members over the current poor state of the building.

"We deplore that this listed building has been allowed to deteriorate to its present poor state and consider that the long outstanding repairs under a Section 104 Agreement should be completed before any further application is considered," said Mr Nicholas.

"The most recent works are, in our view, poorly executed and inappropriate and mistakenly designed to create a good impression."