Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 3^rd August 1990

Church plan thrown out

CHRISTIANS in Rushden have had their plan to turn a bungalow into a church thrown out by planners.

The Sartoris Road Trust, a religious group sometimes known as the Plymouth Brethren, wanted to alter the house on the corner of Quorn Road to make it their main meeting place.

But at a planning meeting this week, councillors on East Northamptonshire District Council agreed with local residents that the area was busy enough already.

The group will now have to look elsewhere to find somewhere to house its growing congregation, but one member, Dick Calder is sure something will be found.

He said the present meeting house on Sartoris Road had become too small for the 65-strong congregation which meets on Sundays and Mondays.

"We thought the bungalow was a reasonable place to have our meeting place," he said. "Now I suppose we shall look for somewhere else."

Tory councillor John Gay on the planning committee said use of the area on a Sunday would mean locals would get no peace at all.

"We are not against religion," he said, "but we agreed that the residents nearby had a right to peace and quiet on a Sunday. Quorn Road is not the place for a place of worship."