A Church Lost Its Home to Flats. Then the Council Refused Its Move to a Business Unit

• An RCCG congregation in Ashford lost its meeting place at Apsley House
• The 1841 building was approved for conversion into seven flats and listed at £660,000
• The council refused the church’s move to a business unit over loss of employment space
• The 80-member congregation was meeting in a hotel

A Pentecostal congregation in Ashford, Kent, found itself without a home in 2018 after the building it used was approved for conversion into flats, KentOnline reported on 17 October 2018. The Ashford branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a denomination founded in Nigeria in 1952, had met at Apsley House on Western Avenue.

Apsley House was built in 1841 and began life as St Mary’s School. With planning permission to turn it into seven apartments, it was put on the market at £660,000, and the church had to leave. The congregation, now around 80 members, moved its services to the Ashford International Hotel while it searched for a permanent base.

The church found a possible new home at the Bridge Road Business Centre, a unit previously used by an appliance supplier and repairer. But Ashford Borough Council refused the change of use, citing the loss of employment floorspace and conflict with the emerging 2017 Ashford Local Plan.

The pastor was frustrated by what looked like a double standard. “Why should they give out a change of use for a residential development at Apsley House but not for us?” he said. Church leaders said the congregation had spent a year looking for space and stressed its community work, including counselling and activities to keep people occupied so they do not get into drugs.

The story captures a common squeeze on congregations in British towns. Rising demand for homes makes older buildings more valuable as flats, while planning rules designed to protect jobs make industrial units hard to convert to worship. Churches that rent are often the first to lose out.

For Jamaican and Caribbean churches in the UK, and for congregations at home that rent their premises, the message is clear: a tenancy is only as secure as the landlord’s plans. Knowing local planning policy before signing a lease, and building towards ownership where possible, can save a church from being left without a roof when the property market moves.

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