Villagers are celebrating after a plan to turn a vacant Methodist chapel into a three-bedroom home was rejected.

The Freeland Community Benefit Society (FCBS) has been fighting attempts to convert the Grade II-listed chapel in Wroslyn Road in Freeland into a dwelling since 2018.

Dozens of residents supported their plans to transform the venue into a village hub, featuring a shop and a cafe.

Its owners Witney and Faringdon Methodist Circuit applied a second time to turn it into a dwelling in 2022 but West Oxfordshire District Council blocked the plans.

Now the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed an appeal and said it could be reused as a community hub.

Oxford Mail: Appeal dismissed to turn Freeland Methodist Chapel into home

In his judgement on April 17, planning inspector Jonathon Parsons said turning it into a house would conflict with council policies over respecting villages' character and local distinctiveness.

He said it would also conflict with policies to enhance the conservation or enhancement of buildings of historic, architectural and environmental significance.

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The Grade II-listed 200-year-old church closed for worship in 2017 and there were fears it could deteriorate if left unused.

In February 2018, the Freeland Community Benefit Society was granted planning permission to turn the church into a shop, cafe and ‘non-residential institution’.

But in November 2018  Edgars planning consultancy applied for a change of use to a dwelling on behalf of the venue’s owner, The Witney and Faringdon Methodist Circuit.

It prompted a protest against the application organised by the FCBS and the application was eventually refused in 2019.

Freeland villagers then had their planning permission to convert it into a village hub renewed in 2022.

But in September 2022 the Methodist Circuit applied a second time to turn it into a three-bed home.

They said the Freeland Community Benefit Society had failed to implement their previous consent and there was a “failure to make a credible business plan".

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They said the Circuit's only obligation was to secure the best market value for the site "which is currently considered to be a residential use.”

The FCBS countered that its business plan has been available on its website since 2018 and they could not progress their plans as the Methodist Circuit had still not offered the chapel for sale.

It added that "there is no conceivable reason for the sacrifice of this unique building for a single domestic dwelling when Freeland residents are opposed and wish it to be used as a social hub for the benefit of the whole community".