Wigan Deanery Synod strongly supported a proposal to retain 24 of their church buildings following a rigorous assessment of what they feel is needed for their work serving their local communities. The proposal will now go through to the diocese before asking the Bishop of Liverpool to give his final approval. They will then go through the formal processes of the Church of England to official close the six buildings.
The six buildings that are proposed to be released are
- St Catharine Scholes
- St Anne Beech Hill
- St John New Springs
- The Good Shepherd, Bamfurlong
- St James and St Elizabeth, Bickershaw
- St Barnabas Marsh Green
These proposals follow an 18-month process called the Right Buildings Review. This has involved technical support and advice from a qualified buildings surveyor but has been overseen by a team of local lay and clergy representatives. Proposals have been carefully and prayerfully considered with many conversations with parishes. This inevitably led to proposals being reviewed and amended particularly through a series of further reviews with church councils. It has meant that there is a broad consensus of support for these proposals.
Throughout the process the Church Wigan leadership team have recognised the important historic, social, emotional and spiritual significance a building has for the congregation who meet there and the community it serves. However, the church is clear that the goal has not been to close buildings but to enable them to have a manageable stock of buildings.
Church Wigan also acknowledges that things change and sensibly want to keep this under review. They will look again at the buildings across Wigan in October 2025 which clearly could result in further recommendations to release buildings.
If the buildings are approved for release that doesn’t mean they are not suitably for other organisations to use. We will therefore have discussions with other denominations around whether they can use the building. We would also look to exploring with community groups and providers if the buildings or sites can be of use. This would include exploring low cost housing on some sites.
Revd Canon Neil Cook, Rector of Church Wigan said “through a long, thorough, careful process we have a clear vision of what buildings we need to achieve what we like to call joyful sustainability. The leadership of our local churches have clear plans for future growth and sustainability and our next stage is to give these plans time to work. Its been a useful process which has forged unity, released creativity and brought in younger leaders. I thank God for that and look to the future with renewed hope.”