Church leaders will have to go back to the drawing board after fresh plans for a new place of worship and housing to replace Bingley Methodist Church on Mornington Road were rejected.

Members of Shipley Area Planning Panel turned down the proposal to replace the Grade II listed building with a smaller church and 13 homes.

Permission to raze the church to the ground has already been granted but this can only be done if a new scheme is deemed suitable in the eyes of planners.

Speaking at the meeting in Shipley Town Hall yesterday, objector Ewen Godfrey said the last application to replace the church was unsatisfactory and this was inferior.

"The new scheme has been drawn up with complete disregard for the surrounding architecture, like it has been parachuted into an alien landscape. It sticks out like a sore thumb."

But Ruth Parry, minister of Bingley Methodist Church, said there was a tendency to romanticise buildings that had lost their purpose, particularly when they were old, and the new church was a much-needed community facility.

Some councillors were particularly concerned the "swirling" design of a zinc-sheet roof.

Councillor Chris Greaves (Cons, Rombalds) said: "The material of the roof made me shudder. We should distance ourselves from tin roofs.''