Demolition plans for a listed church in Glasgow have been halted, after 332 objections.

A public hearing will now take place into the future of Hillhead Baptist Church, built in 1883, after local councillors recognised the interest from the public and community groups. 

Developers hoped to demolish the B-listed building and replace it with flats. 

In 2020, Wemyss Properties had been given permission to build flats and a church site, while keeping the facade. Planning documents indicate the church’s involvement with the site has ended, with the developer only seeking to construct new flats. 

The congregation has moved into a nearby hotel for its services, because of structural damage to the church building. Issues had been identified with its condition as early as 2000.

Planning application chair Ken Andrew told the committee that “it is only fair we give this a proper hearing”, as reported by Glasgow Live.

“I’m getting the sense that overwhelmingly people feel we should probably have a hearing on this given the level of responses to these proposals in terms of numbers of objections and indeed the community council and elected members”, he said on Tuesday. 

Retaining the church and its facade is not financially viable, according to the developer and eight letters of support for the plans. Wemyss Properties said no other organisation were interested in buying the property.