A district councillor has called for action to be taken over a decaying and vandalised church after urban explorers exposed the shocking state of the 166-year-old building.
Photographs show smashed pews and cupboards, plaster ripped from walls and evidence of fires being lit inside the grade II-listed St Paul’s Church, in Denholme Gate.
Historic memorial plaques – including one dating back 130 years commemorating the death of a soldier – have also been left exposed, and vandals have “run amok” in the crumbling building.
Councillor Mike Ellis said: “It is shocking. This is a listed building and we have to look at the health and safety risk of anyone going in there. I think the Council has a responsibility to take action.”
The damage was highlighted by an anonymous photographer who posted the pictures on Facebook.
They show smashed-up furniture, a hole in the blue arched ceiling and no windows left. The photographer said: “It could end up like many old buildings in Bradford – getting burned down.”
Alison Bogle, a spokesman for Bradford Diocese, said the church had been sold to a developer in 1999. Plan-ning permission for it to be turned into a house was granted five years ago, but work has yet to begin.
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