A church has sparked outrage among a community after plans to stay open until 11pm were submitted.

It was previously announced that Elim Pentecostal Church would move from its current home in High Path to Merton Hall, as part part of a shuffle to build a new Harris Academy.

Under those plans, the church would be allowed to remain open to the public until 10pm each night.

This time around though, Elim Church has applied to extend those opening hours until 11pm Monday to Saturday and beyond that time no more than ten times throughout the year unless agreed in writing, all before it has actually moved into its new home.

This angered John Chambers who lives right next door to where the church will be.

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"I’m really concerned as I live three metres away from the building," he said.

"It is ludicrous for them to be trying to sneak the planning application through before they have even moved into the building.

"It doesn’t show a lot of respect for the neighbourhood as before they have even moved in they are trying to remove the very planning conditions that were meant to protect our amenity."

Those sentiments were shared by Abbey ward Councillor Nigel Benbow.

He said if this application was pushed through that it would set an unnerving precedent.

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"If Elim Church were to succeed for the extra hour everyday application, then what else do they want," he said.

"They’ve already caused enough unhappiness to our community by taking away our beloved heritage building.

"This is totally unacceptable and will cause more unnecessary noise disturbance.

"This is seen as a slap in the face to our residents. Elim Church is pushing their luck and this proves they have no intention to be a ‘considerate neighbour late at night'."

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But Sarah Bale, administrator at the church, disagrees.

She said appropriate steps are being taken so that neighbours won't be disturbed.

“We have applied for extended opening hours for Merton Hall to allow for occasional flexibility in our events," she said.

"Significant consideration has already been given to sound-proofing Merton Hall, and we will do all we can to protect the local community from any inconvenience.

“While we have unlimited opening hours in our current building, we do not anticipate that the church will regularly be used beyond 10pm in our Merton Hall premises.”