A HISTORIC church has gone up for sale, priced at £550,000.

The sale of Tottington Road Methodist Church, in Harwood, will help fund the building of a new multi-purpose community centre in Longsight.

Harwood Methodist Church, formed in 2009 by a merger of the Tottington Road and Longsight Methodist churches, had its plans for the redevelopment of the Longsight facility — which will include a contemporary worship area, café, meeting rooms and community hall — approved last year.

Hunters estate agents say that the Tottington Road site is in a ‘most sought after’ location and offers the potential for residential development.

Designs were put forward earlier this year for the conversion of the church into three townhouse-like properties and the building of eight additional homes on adjacent land. The graveyard will not be sold.

The Rev Jennifer McKenzie said: “To realise the plans for the new church in Longsight we need to sell Tottington Road.

“There are a number of challenges associated with that and the negotiations will be quite complex. We want to put assurances in place that the outline of the existing church will not be demolished.

“The graveyard remains Methodist and will not be sold.

“And whatever happens to the church building will be in keeping with the character of the graveyard.

“The car park and other land to the back of the church may be of more interest to the developer than the church itself.

“This has been an ongoing challenge for a number of years. The congregation is desperate for a new church and we want to be sensitive to the needs of the community.

“But there is an appreciation that the sale of Tottington Road and building of the new church is not going to be easy, especially in this economic climate.”

The estate agents says that the church would consider accepting an offer for the site which is conditional on obtaining planning permission for the housing development.

The church — which dates back to 1890 — and surrounding land is within the green belt and the church is also recorded as being a building of note in the council’s Conservation Area Character Study.