A FORMER Somerset church could soon be a three-bedroom home – if plans are approved.

A planning application has been submitted to Somerset Council to change the use of the former Wincanton Baptist Church, in Mill Street, to a residential property.

The site includes a late-Victorian school hall as well as the church property, the application said, which is not included in the plans.

However, the church – believed to have been built in 1833 – is no longer in use, and was sold to the current owners in April.

READ MORE: Planning news from your New Blackmore Vale

“It constitutes an open hall, with a stage and full immersion baptistry, together with offices at the front,” the application said.

It went on: “At the rear is a small, disused burial ground (not consecrated) where gravestones have been removed and laid against the rear walls.

“The buildings, stone walls and gardens are in a state of disrepair and on the brink of becoming derelict in places.”

If the plans are approved, the application said the former church would become a house “suitable for occupation by a single family”, where “members can work from home, with flexible spaces, including an artist’s studio/gallery and office/workshop”.

An outside toilet block and boiler house would be demolished under the scheme, although there would be “no external changes” to the front or sides, other than replacement glazing, it added, as well as new openings to the rear.

Gardens to the front of the church will be “further extended and enhanced”, the application said, while the proposed restoration of stone walling around the property would “improve” the street scene.

The application will now be considered by Somerset Council planners. For more details, and to comment on the plans, log on to somerset.gov.uk and search reference 25/01697/FUL.