A CHURCH centre could be sold off after the parish council dropped plans to take it over.

Cononley Parish Council had been considering moving the village institute into the church centre.

But after two years, the council has decided to drop the plans because of a lack of support from the village and the costs involved with the negotiations.

Councillors also felt that taking over the centre would not be viable without the institute being sold off, and the proposed lease on the building offered no long- term security.

Talks started in 2005 when it was revealed parishioners could not afford to fund the centre as well as St John's Church.

The two buildings are run side by side, even though St John's is owned by the Bradford Diocese and the church centre by the West Yorkshire Methodist District.

Rev John Peet, vicar of both St John's Church and the church centre, said: "Everyone is disappointed, but I do understand the parish council."

In February, the Methodist Commissioners said they were only willing to lease the property and not sell it, and only on a 21-year lease.

A figure of £13,500 per year was quoted, which the council then agreed could not be met without renting out part of the property commercially.

Mr Peet told the Herald there had been no pressure from the Methodist Commissioners, but as a charity they were obliged to get the best possible price for the centre.

He added: "We were hoping it could have been taken over at a peppercorn rent, but as a charity, it has to maximise its return.

"We had to get a surveyor to work out what the rent would be and it was too much for the village to raise.

"There was also the feeling that there is already one hall and perhaps there would not be the interest or the manpower to run another one."

Coun Lois Brown, chairman of the parish council, said the decision had not been taken lightly.

"We tried to find a way around the charity law. But as a charity, a commercial rent had to be worked out and it was between £11,000 and £13,000 per year, which was impossible.

"At the last parish council meeting, we went around the table and everybody was really sorry that we couldn't do it. There really was a great deal of regret."

Coun Brown added that a lot of work had gone into securing the church centre for the village.

"We would have liked to have kept it as a village asset, but the financial side of it was impossible.

"It wasn't a decision that was taken lightly.

"We are now all waiting for a millionaire benefactor to come along," she said.

Mr Peet told the Herald the future of the centre was likely to be discussed in the next few weeks.

"No decision has been made as yet, but there is the strong possibility that it could be sold.

"It could be the whole site is sold or part of the site and some of the money could come back to Cononley," he explained.

Last year, the then parish council chairman, Denis Colman, said the council was under an obligation to investigate the future use of the church centre and to see if it offered a better site than the existing village institute.

The final decision on the future of the centre will rest with its managing trustees.