A PLANNED closure of an historic Worth Valley church has been postponed.

Haworth Parish Church this week announced its three-month closure – originally intended to take place from this summer onwards – will not happen until next spring.

It had been hoped all the arrangements to complete the repair and refurbishment of the north-facing roofs would be in place in time for the church to be closed from this month until September.

However, custodians of the Main Street building confirmed a number of factors have led to the programme needing to be put back until next year.

Following a series of discussions with funding agencies, contractors and the church’s architects, Haworth Parochial Church Council has taken the decision to instead complete the rebuilding works from April to June 2016.

The Rev Peter Mayo-Smith, rector at Haworth Parish Church, said: “It has been unfortunate we couldn’t undertake the repair work this year.

"In the end, it was not going to be practically possible to complete the work before the worst of the winter weather arrived.

“We have consulted the Heritage Lottery Fund, our contractors and our architect, and we have now concluded the best option for the church is to do the work next year.

“It’s not just a case of shutting the building down at any time when it suits us. We have weddings booked, as well as other key community and religious events to think about, so we need to co-ordinate all these activities with any planned closure.

“The knock-on effect of a closure also has detrimental effects on church finances. Our fund-raising efforts and ability to seek donations from our visitors is badly affected too.”

The repair of the parish church's north-facing roofs is part of an ongoing, five-year plan to restore the property, which has important connections with the famous literary Brontë family.

The church completed the repair of its south-facing roofs in 2012 at a cost of £237,000 with the help of major funders, such as English Heritage, Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust and the National Churches Trust.

The projected cost for the north-facing roofs is £250,000 and the church has already received some support from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards developing a restoration plan.

The parish church recently invested a sum of £60,000 to instal a brand new replacement central heating system.

The Rev Mayo-Smith added: “It’s important the work is done properly, and we couldn’t risk having the roof off as the winter weather approached.”