What will become of St Thomas Parish Church, Cowick Street

As recently reported, one of Exeter's oldest parish churches is threatened with closure as St Thomas Church in Cowick Street faces repair bills of around £3m and rising. Its plight has led to a major rethink of how best to look after it and its two sister churches, Emmanuel in Okehampton Road and St Andrew's in Alphington Road, which are also both in need of considerable repair and refurbishment.

St Thomas City and County Councillor Rob Hannaford, who attended the recent well-attended public meeting about these issues adds:

“One option is to make the parish church, which is Grade I Listed, safe and secure, but then to effectively mothball it as a redundant church. The St Thomas Community Centre in the church grounds would be retained for church and community use.

"Since becoming involved with community work in St Thomas over a decade ago, and as the local City and County Councillor, it's been my great privilege to work with all three of these churches and congregations over the years, to secure grants and support projects. So I and many others know just how much they all put back into St Thomas, in tandem with all the other local churches and community groups, which makes this report such a concern.

"A full public consultation is essential. I also want the County Council involved in these issues, as we are still in need of a full-sized local library for the area, after the private owners of the Exe Bridges site decided to demolish the former library building, and this also needs to be taken into account when looking at matters strategically.

"Although the temporary library and its staff are doing a sterling job, the clear feedback that I regularly receive from local residents on the doorstep is that it is too small and they miss all that the old library used to offer, in terms of space, stock and community events.

"Please email your views, ideas or points directly to westexeteam@btconnect.com, or write to West Exe Team , St Thomas Church Hall , Church Road , EX2 9DB.”