Church wins

PLANS to redevelop Watlington parish church can go ahead after a planning inspector granted an appeal.

St Leonard’s Church in Pyrton Lane applied to demolish the hall next door and build a five-bedroom house and a new rectory in its place.

The church appealed after South Oxfordshire District Council refused the plans.

Inspector David Murray said the removal of the hall and its replacement by houses of an appropriate design would be a positive enhancement of the conservation area when seen as a whole.

He noted that the intention was to make the church “a vital cultural and community resource as well as a centre of worship”.