Plans for new £4.2 million church revealed (From Daily Echo)

Plans for new £4.2 million church revealed

8:00am Sunday 12th February 2012 in News

THIS is the £4.2m plan for a new 500-seat church auditorium in the heart of a Hampshire community.

The performance area, the vision of Locks Heath Free Church, will be capable of hosting large-scale concerts and will also feature a sports hall, coffee shop and community rooms.

Church bosses have been desperate to expand their current outdated home on Hunts Pond Road for the last 20 years.

Now they have secured 1.2 acres of land next door to cater for the soaring number of church-goers, youth clubs and school groups that currently use their facilities.

Funding for the 16,684 sq ft complex will come from a mixture of pledges, fundraising and borrowing. Building work could begin as early as next year.

Minister Mark Madavan told the Daily Echo: “It will also provide much needed space for larger events such as concerts and exhibitions for schools in the area. I think the whole community around here is going to be really positive about it.”

Locks Heath Free Church was set up 40 years ago, but only moved to its current site in the early 1990s. Since then, they have been trying to increase their offering, with up to 800 people coming through the doors every week.

The new building will form an annex to the existing church complex, which will continue to be used for smaller activities and group meetings.

The scheme follows the completion of a separate 1,300 seat auditorium in the grounds of King’s Community Church in Hedge End. The facility, finished in September, is believed to have made the church one of the biggest on the south coast.

A planning application for the Locks Heath auditorium will be submitted to Fareham Borough Council later this year.