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Black Isle church to be demolished and rebuilt

Reverend Sandy Sutherland of the Free Church, Fortrose on the Black Isle which is having to be demolished and rebuilt owing to structural failures.
Reverend Sandy Sutherland of the Free Church, Fortrose on the Black Isle which is having to be demolished and rebuilt owing to structural failures.

A Black Isle congregation is raising funds to demolish and rebuild their church because of structural failings.

Visible cracks have been appearing for several years inside and out on the walls of Fortrose Free Church because of problems with subsidence.

The church has also had problems with pews tilting at an angle where the floor underneath has sunk.

The congregation has been raising money for several years to try and replace the 1910 church building, but work has never got under way because of a lack of funds.

Planning permission was previously granted to demolish and rebuild the church but it has since lapsed.

A fresh planning application has been lodged with Highland Council – but the congregation are still short of funds.

An early estimate suggested that the work would cost about £550,000 but tenders received for the project put the cost of work at somewhere between £678,000 and £908,000.

Cost-saving measures are being considered to try and cut up to £100,000 off the cost of the project.

So far the congregation has raised more than £451,000 towards the development, with a grant of £80,000 from the Free Church.

The Rev Sandy Sutherland said that the problems with the current building were due to the soft earth it had been built on.

He said: “The building is just falling down of its own accord. It’s not actually that old so you would have expected to last a bit better than it has.

“The ground is very soft, it’s just pure black earth and the building is just sinking into it.

“It’s quite a busy road outside too but I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.

“Early we looked at the possibility of repairing it but it was going to cost almost as much as a new building and it would probably not last all that long.”

The current church building was constructed in 1910 and is finished in white masonry with a pitched slate roof.

As well as the problems with subsidence, it also has limited space in the church hall and there is no level disabled access.

The new church building has been finished to keep a similar finish to the existing structure but would be wider to create extra space.