WILSDEN councillors have demanded more details of building materials to be used for three new houses on the site of a former church.

The parish council has refused to support the latest amendment to a project planned for the site of the former Methodist Church in the hamlet of Harecroft.

Bradford Council gave planning permission for the three houses in November 2015, but developers had to submit several details later, including the type of roof tiles and boundary stones.

This information was sent to the council in May and has yet to be approved by Bradford planners.

In its response to Bradford Council, the parish council expressed concern about the lack of detail of

‘natural stone’ to be used for the boundaries and ‘concrete tiles’ to be used for the roof.

Parish councils were also concerned that a site investigation appeared not to have been done.

It added: “The parish council also reminds the applicant that they agreed to incorporate the engraved foundation stones and large ‘Blackburn chapel’ stone into the boundary wall and these were saved on site with that intention.”

Harecroft Methodist Church was forced to close in 2012 due to dwindling congregation numbers and the spiralling cost of repairs.

There had been a church in the hamlet village since 1850, and the chapel was built in 1900. The ageing building needed £30,000 worth of repairs, a sum the tiny congregation could not afford.

Services in the last few months attracted attracted only a handful of worshippers, with only three from the village.

At the time the closure, a spokesman for Bradford North Methodist Circuit said churches were struggling everywhere.

The spokesman said: “This is not a local problem and it is not getting any better. If anything, it is getting worse. People are quite happy to go and get married or have their children christened in their local churches, but don’t regularly support their local churches.

“Eventually it is going to be the case that they won’t be able to go to that nice, pretty church because it has shut down.”