Plans to demolish a church building in Ibstock have been given the go-ahead by North West Leicestershire District Council.

Ibstock Methodist Church, Melbourne Road is believed to date back to 1892.

But planning permission to demolish it has been granted.

The site had previously been the subject of an application for a change of use to a car park, but that was refused.

Documents accompanying the application, from Katie Ward, and using JJM Planning in Ashby as an agent, suggest that the church was being used as a place of worship as recently as last year.

It is a chapel that has an associated schoolroom and assembly hall.

The documentation adds: "The restoration of the site would consist of any voids being backfilled and compacted prior to topsoiling and seeding so that the site is left as a grassed area."

Some concerns have been expressed over the method of demolition, but the agent has told North West Leicestershire District Council in correspondence that it will be the same as was used to take apart the Hermitage Leisure Centre in Whitwick.

The agent writes: "The machinery involved with the demolition, as with the Leisure Centre, will include mechanical crushing jaws, mechanical pecker and bulldozer to spread topsoil.

"The demolition contractor will utilise any existing inert material from the demolition for voids and if this material is unsuitable or not enough quantity then inert material will be brought in from elsewhere (as locally as possible)."