Church set for demolition despite nine-year campaign to save it

Hopes of saving Birch church in the Essex town have been dashed after a buyer withdrew plans to convert it into a home.

Unless another buyer comes forward, the building is likely to disappear from the Colchester landscape.

The Grade II-listed St Peter and St Paul's Church, in Birch, has stood empty for 31 years and fallen into disrepair.

When the Diocese of Chelmsford said it couldn’t find a suitable alternative use, the church commissioners earmarked the structure, with its unique stone tower and spire, for demolition.

One of the windows on Birch church which has fallen into disrepair (Image: Archant)

The charity North Essex Heritage, backed by the Victorian Society, the Ancient Monuments Society and English Heritage, had been campaigning for years to save the church when chartered quantity surveyor and builder Gary Cottee offered to buy it in 2013.

Colchester Borough Council then granted planning permission and listed building consent for the project in 2020.

However, Mr Cottee has pulled out of the project, siting "a serious deterioration in the condition of the building".

The additional remedial and building work, together with increased costs of materials, has sent the estimate for the project spiralling from £1.4m in 2016 to at least £1.89m.

Simon Hall MBE, chairman of North Essex Heritage, a building preservation trust, said: “Mr Cottee’s sensitive and imaginative conversion scheme was entirely viable, had planning permission and a huge amount of local support.

"If it had been allowed to happen to a normal timescale, this listed building would have been saved and brought into sustainable use.

"The Trust completely understands why Mr Cottee has very reluctantly decided not to proceed with his plans.

"We are truly grateful that Mr Cottee, with his expertise in construction and converting old buildings, has tried hard to achieve our shared vision of saving Birch Church."

“There is no way of knowing how many more years this could have dragged on before the Church Commissioners agreed the sale, or what unrealistic conditions would have been imposed.

St Peter and St Paul’s church in Birch is under the threat of demolition. (Image: Archant)

"The Trust will be seeking an early meeting with Colchester Borough Council and the Church authorities to discuss the church’s future.

“The Trust’s only hope now is that another buyer is willing to take on the project with its existing permissions.

"We hope at the very least, that because of its exceptional importance in the landscape, the rare and magnificent church spire can be saved if the rest of the building is demolished.”

The church was originally built in 1850 and replaced another landmark building in Colchester.

In 2015 a planning inquiry was ordered by the Secretary of State because of local opposition to the Church’s plan to demolish the building.

Preliminary meetings were held, but the full hearing didn’t go ahead. A 2013 survey of village residents found 85% were in favour of Mr Cottee’s plans to save the building.