A VILLAGE'S dreams of building its own Methodist Church are a step closer to becoming a reality.

Outline plans of what the new place of worship could look like when it is built in Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland, have been submitted to Wear Valley District Council after fundraisers hit the halfway mark.

A total of around £300,000 is needed to build the new facility and villagers and the surrounding communities have worked tirelessly to raise as much money as they can.

It is now hoped their efforts will be matched by various funding bodies and planning permission is being sought for land at Low Queen Street in the village.

The Rev Richard Bainbridge, who is the village minister, said that the new church is vital to its 25 strong congregation and members of the community who currently meet in the village hall.

He said: "We still have quite a bit of money to raise but when you are dealing with a big scheme such as this funders need to know whether there is planning permission before they will release funds.

"We have raised 50 per cent of the funding and I think that is a huge achievement. It shows funders that we are serious about this and we are fully committed to the scheme.''

Witton Park has been without a Methodist church since Carwood Methodist Church was demolished around 20 years ago.

Since then services have been carried out in the village hall, which is also where the Sunday School meets.

He said: "The problem that we are left with at the moment is that it is very difficult for us to be able to plan ahead should we want to run a series of services or meetings because we have to book the village hall.

"People do not recognise us as being a church and if somebody wants a child baptising they are put off by having the service in a village hall. If we want to hold funerals we use Bishop Auckland Methodist Church.''

Mr Bainbridge said that the church is committed to the project and he is proud of how the community have pulled together.

He said: "I would like to say a big thank you to everybody who has supported us over the past few years. We hold fairs each year and they are always very well supported by the community.''