Catholic church under fire

In September an application was submitted to erect security fencing around the church amid fears it could be targeted by vandals.

Cllr Pritchard said: “This new house is just three or four minutes from the current church – where is the sense in that?”

According to Land Registry documents, the new home for the New Brighton priest is Gorsehill Road, which was acquired by the Shrewsbury Roman Catholic Diocesan trustees on October 23, 2009 for £260,000.

Cllr Paul Hayes, who has also been supporting SOUL’s campaign, said: “The clergy play an incredibly important role in our communities and they should be provided with good accommodation.

“However it is ludicrous that Shrewsbury Diocese continuously claims it doesn’t have the money for even basic maintenance works on Ss Peter and Paul’s Church whilst forking out £260,000 on a new home for the parish priest when there is a perfectly good presbytery lying vacant.”

Fr John Joyce, spokesman for the Shrewsbury Diocese, said they would be making no comment about the councillors’ complaints.