CAMPAIGNERS have accused Catholic Church authorities of failing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of parishioners’ money donated to help save the iconic SS Peter and Paul Church in New Brighton. A pressure group set up to save the church - known by sailors as the Dome of Home - have now called for an investigation into church leaders by the Charity Commission.
Members of Soul (Save Our Unique Landmark) say they have donated hundreds of thousands of pounds through Gift Aid, which allows the church to reclaim tax on the money – but that money has not been spent as they believed it would be, such as on routine maintenance.
Soul says it has been left without key repairs being carried out for at least 10 years as the church prepared to find a way to close it.
According to Soul, a decision was made 10 years ago to “covertly withdraw maintenance” of the church.
Many in the congregation had continued to make Gift Aid payments which Soul says accrued “surplus income of approximately £35,000 per year”.
The diocese, they claim, continued to apply for Income Tax relief on these funds where Gift Aid was registered, but the money is in a bank account controlled by Shrewsbury Diocese, which refused all but the most essential repairs.
In a letter to the Charity Commission, Soul chairman Frank McGowan, said: “We accept that the trustees may decide to change their policy in regard to the maintenance and repair of a building that is under their care in the trust.
“However, we do not accept that, when such a decision impinges on the interests of our parishioners, the trustees have a right to keep such a decision secret.”
In a shock announcement last month, parishioners were told the church would close on August 17 – this despite a letter just a few months earlier from the Vatican reassuring them there were “no current plans” to shut SS Peter and Paul.
Father John Joyce, of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, said: “The bishop has announced his decision along with the trustees to close the church and there is no further comment to make. They have a right to pursue whatever they want, but the bishop has made his position clear on this.”
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