A CHURCH which has stood empty and boarded up since it closed 17 years ago is in line to be turned into a house.

Proposals to convert the old All Saints Church, in Shildon, into a house were submitted to Durham County Council.

The Church of England building, on All Saints Road, shut in 1998. Les Dunn, of Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland, has applied to convert it.

He also applied for listed building consent to carry out alterations. The scheme proposes keeping a circular stained glass window in place at the church.

The county council has approved the scheme after no-one objected to it.

Tracey Bellas, deputy clerk to Shildon Town Council, said: “I think it will look lovely when it’s finished and it should be a good scheme.

“It will be good to see it renovated and it will tidy up that part of Shildon.”

The town council currently looks after the closed graveyard next to the church.

The authority has requested that any planning approval allows the council access to the graveyard.

It is believed that the churches three bells were removed in 2001 and re-located to other churches in England.

One is thought to be in Potterhanworth, in Lincolnshire, another in Caunton, in Nottinghamshire, with the last one at Sandford Orcas, in Dorset.