Car parking and access plans which would allow a 160-year old building to continue as a church have been given the go-ahead by North West Leicestershire District Council.

An application to allow a new vehicular access and 13 car parking spaces - at Thringstone Methodist Church in Loughborough Road - was submitted last December.

Now, after amended plans were received during the course of the application, the scheme has been given planning permission.

The original plan was for 15 car park spaces. The building, opened in 1863, was recently acquired by the Loughborough Gospel Hall Trust.

A heritage statement which accompanied the application nine months ago, explained the importance of the building to the area.

It said: "The site contains the Former Primitive Chapel which is a non-designated heritage local asset.

"The building is not affected in any way, it is only works within its setting and curtilage.

"The chapel will remain with ongoing use as a church - which is its existing lawful use.

"The application concerns only the physical works and not the use of the property. It is of local value and the significance of the site is the building itself and how it addresses the street frontage.

"There is negligible impact to the setting and less than substantial harm is offset by the wider benefits of continued use of the church and preservation of the building. This report concludes that the scale of harm from the proposed parking to the significance of the building is negligible / low."

A planning statement with the application added: "The proposed scheme creates a new access driveway off Loughborough Road, with gates set back five metres, and 13 off-road spaces with retained pedestrian access.

"Given responses to issues raised at pre-application stage the spaces have been reduced from 15 to 13 and additional reports/plans commissioned, specifically highways, heritage, drainage, landscape, and ecology.

"The works facilitate the ongoing use of the property as a church, which is its existing lawful use."