A group of Eddington residents fear their church could be sold into private hands and they have called for people to bombard the Uniting Church with support for keeping it a community asset.
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Church authorities have been preparing to put the unused Eddington Uniting Church on the market.
Services for the shrinking congregation ceased in 2013 and the run-down building is closed to public access because of safety concerns.
However, if the Uniting Church tries to sell the building to a private party they may have a fight on their hands.
Eddington Community Incorporated has vowed to make community opposition known to potential buyers. The ECI would also be vocal about heritage and environmental overlays it said could limit development options.
The ECI wants the community to buy the building. The group’s secretary Fiona Baverstock said it was significant to many locals, regardless of their faith.
“It’s too valuable to this little community to be sold to someone just to be a weekender,” Mrs Baverstock said.
She was concerned an eventual price tag could prove too high for the community to afford.
The ECI is calling for the public to send messages of support for the community’s right to retain the building by emailing the Uniting Church at synod@victas.uca.org.au
They also plan to circulate a petition this Saturday at the Eddington Vintage Sports Car Club Sprints.
Mrs Baverstock said the church was one of two public buildings left in town.
After a 2016 public meeting locals told church authorities they would like to buy it. They felt they could gather $30,000 through loans and donations.
Mrs Baverstock said this figure was below market value. But they hoped the Uniting Church might take into account the site’s significance to the community, as well as approximately $35,000 worth of maintenance locals of all faiths estimated they had undertaken since the year 2000.
That document was provided to the church in November 2016, Mrs Baverstock said. The community was still waiting for a formal response.
A Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania spokesperson said that without verified invoices they were unable to evaluate items and respond to the community’s list.
The spokesman said that between 2000 and 2013, “so many working bees comprising church members and other volunteers carried out tasks such as gardening, mowing, pest control, and care of furniture and worshippers’ comfort”.
The spokesman said the building would not be an ideal community facility because it did not have toilets, electricity, heating or cooling.
The hall opposite the church would still be available for public use, the spokesperson said, should a decision be made to sell.
No real estate agents had been appointed, though the spokesperson said the Uniting Church had contacted agents and had received a range of possible price tags.
“A sale for the church would be conducted in a transparent and public manner undertaken by a licenced real estate agent,” the spokesperson said.
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