An enormous new church is set to be built in Blackley on a former convent, new planning documents show.
World Mission Agency, which currently holds services on Broughton Lane in Salford, has purchased the Chain Road site in north Manchester. It is now applying for permission to demolish the former Convent of the Good Shepherd and build a new place of worship.
The church says its new Winners Chapel will have space for a 1,500-strong congregation in an ‘ultra-modern’ facility.
“The current church building is no longer fit for purpose and have recently purchased the land at 114 Chain Road in Blackley to develop proposals to demolish the existing aged buildings on the site and construct an ultra-modern 1,500 seater worship centre with community facilities,” it said in its application.
It will replace an old convent
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“The mix of uses would include principally; a 1,500 seater chapel, multi-purpose community hall for organisational and community use, a training and development centre, youths’ development centre, day nursery, function rooms and other mixed uses for the organisation’s offices including a cafe/restaurant.”
There is only one entrance to the convent, which neighbours ‘a cluster schools’ called the ‘Higher Blackley Education Village’. That means both the schools and church would share one access route, Chain Road.
To cope with worshippers’ parking, the church is planning to construct ‘189 car parking spaces, including 20 EV charging spaces and 12 accessible spaces’ for cars and a further ‘10 motorcycle parking spaces’ and ‘40 cycle storage spaces’.
Special shuttle buses will bring worshippers to the building
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Currently, around two-thirds of the congregation drive to Sunday services, but the World Mission Agency has laid on special shuttle buses to reduce traffic in the area.
“A church bus service has been established to manage traffic to and from the site during services and this is proposed to be expanded to encourage more church users to travel sustainably,” the planning application added. “With the anticipated growth in congregation size, this bus service is proposed to increase by 15.23 percent, decreasing car usage for travel to and from the site.”
You can view and comment on the proposals until January 24 online here.