The auction of a former chapel at Pistyll near Nefyn has been postponed.

Calls had been made to stop the sale, due to take place last (Wednesday) to give the community time to raise the money to buy Bethania Chapel amid concerns that it was being sold to turn into a holiday home. A fundraising page has received donations of £17,568 so far.

Auction House told the Cambrian News the property was withdrawn last Friday, 19 March, “because of an incomplete legal pack”.

“The instructions we have received, unless we hear otherwise, is to readvertise it in our 19 May auction,” a spokesperson said.

Plaid Cymru’s Dwyfor Meirionnydd Senedd candidate, Mabon ap Gwynfor, said the postponement was “welcome news indeed”.

“It would be great to see Capel Bethania kept as a community asset, creating an income stream which can be invested back into the local community according to need. There is a campaign under way for a community group to buy the property.

“They must be afforded time to promote their campaign.”

A fundraising page - www.gofundme.com/f/cronfa-capel-bethania-pistyll? - has been set up to buy the chapel, also known as Capel Tom Nefyn Williams in memory of the well-known poet and preacher.

Explaining the reasons for wanting to buy the chapel, the page states: “We believe this important building should be kept in the hands of the nation, and seeing the conversion of Tom Nefyn’s old chapel to a holiday home, who worked all his life against oppression, and in favour of creating safe homes for Welsh workers, would be an insult on our country.

“We set out our commitment to rebuild, replant our communities, our country, our language, in the spirit of Tom Nefyn, and in a spirit of co-operation and cohabitation with our brothers and sisters in order to build fair and equal communities. If we succeed, we will work closely with the local community to establish co-operative, community ownership of this historic building.”