Bradford Cathedral is back in the black after being what is believed to be the first cathedral in Britain to go into insolvency.

Following the sale of the failed £5 million Life Force Faith Museum in St Peter's House, Forster Square, to the Kala Sangam Asian arts company, the cathedral has been trying to get itself back on its feet.

And at a meeting today the cathedral announced it had fulfilled all its requirements and obligations under the terms of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which it entered into in August, 2004.

Now the cathedral can raise money and undertake projects in the same manner as any other church or charity.

The Very Reverend Dr David Ison, Dean of Bradford, said: "We have been working hard over the last two years and we are no longer bankrupt. I think it is the first time a Church of England has become bankrupt.

"We still have to organise the accounts, which have not been done since 2002, but they should be in order by the summer.

"Part of the reason was we had no-one who knew how to handle the accounts, and did not have the resources to pay someone to do them."

The cathedral entered into the CVA as a last resort to deal with the debts passed on from the Life Force Museum.

The exhibition had opened in July, 2000, but in January 2001 only 754 paying visitors had visited the attraction, which had budgeted on 40,000 a year to break event.

The cathedral had channelled grant funding through its accounts from the purchase of St Peter's House in 1999 and was held liable for the repayment of grants and other costs.

The sale of St Peter's House to Kala Sangam last July has allowed the cathedral to comply with the terms of CVA and the Certificate of Due Completion was issued on November 29 by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Rev Ison said: "The formal completion of the CVA brings to an end a long and difficult period in the life of the cathedral, which many members of the cathedral community have had to live with for far longer than I."

The Rev Ison said many lessons had been learned from the experience and the main job now was to develop the role of the cathedral and raise its profile.

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