A CONTROVERSIAL plan to renovate a Penparcau church to replace a much-loved town centre building has fallen behind schedule, with Aberystwyth councillors calling in to question why the move is going ahead.

Some Catholics in Aberystwyth were left in a state of shock after being told by their bishop that he has decided to spend £360,000 renovating a derelict church in Penparcau instead of renovating St Winefride’s Church on Queen’s Road.

Controversy, protests and rows between parishioners and Bishop Thomas Burns have been ongoing following the closure of the historic 175-year-old St Winefride’s Church on Queen’s Road in 2012, leaving parishioners having to hold services in the Morlan Centre or St Padarn’s school.

A drawn-out battle over the building has seen multiple plans to renovate it or knock it down put forward, withdrawn or rejected.

A plan to build homes on the site of the disused 1970s Welsh Martyrs Church in Penparcau to pay for the renovation of St Winefride’s was also scrapped, with the Diocese settling on a plan to renovate the Penparcau church.

That plan however was promised to have been put into place immediately last year, with an expected finishing time of last Christmas, however no work has begun at the site.

Cllr Ceredig Davies told members of Aberystwyth Town Council at a meeting last Monday that he did not see why the dilapidated building in Penparcau has been chosen over St Winefride’s.

“I’m not a builder or an architect but it seems to me that St Winefride’s is in a far better state than the old church in Penparcau.”

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