Independent developer Faye Parker has bought Hopton United Reformed Church, which has stood empty for three years.

Miss Parker has applied to Kirklees Council to turn the Grade II* listed building and attached Sunday school, in Calder Road, Mirfield, into four homes. She also wants to build three more detached houses with garages on the land, each with two parking spaces.

She has asked for new vehicle access to the site from Waste Lane, and wants to demolish a 6m sq by 4m sq newer extension to create parking spaces and low level light.

The plans will be considered by council officers around March 12.

Miss Parker said she intended to live in the finished building, which she wanted to return to its former glory.

She added: “The memorial garden will be fully maintained and will be open to the public.”

Meanwhile Kirklees Council has agreed to spend £368,000 on Wellhouse Farm Barn, which officers say is in a ‘perilous’ condition.

Cabinet members pledged a grant of £140,000 and a loan to Kirklees Historic Buildings Trust (KHBT) of £228,000 for the trust to buy the Grade II listed building from its current owner, Wellhouse Moravian Church.

KHBT is a registered charity which restores historic buildings within Kirklees.

The trust wants to develop the barn, currently on Kirklees Council’s at risk register, into a home to sell on.

It will need planning permission for the project, which it hopes to start in July.

Profits from the sale of the barn will be spent on restoring other buildings in the future.

Mirfield Historical Society chairman and Mirfield Mayor Coun David Pinder welcomed the news the buildings were to be restored.

He said: “It’s jolly good that these buildings are being brought back to life. Hopton church is going to be a mammoth task.

“Both are good buildings and they are harmonious with the area. They were built with a better eye that they are nowadays.”