DISABLED and elderly worshippers at Bewdley's only Catholic church will be praying for divine intervention after a second bid to improve facilities was defeated.

Wyre Forest District Council planners threw out a plan to build an extension at Holy Family Church, High Street, at their meeting on Tuesday night.

It would have provided an entrance vestibule, new sacristy, toilets and kitchenette with ramped access for wheelchairs and to help the elderly, who have struggled with steep entrance steps.

But members of the planning (development control) committee agreed with officer Mike Parker - who said the changes from the last application, dismissed in summer 2001, were "minor" - and voted 13 to seven to refuse permission for the scheme.

Mr Parker said: "I recognised this proposal is important in the eyes of the church and its parishioners who clearly feel their need outweighs the niceties of the historic fabric of the building."

However, he said the 62 letters he had received supporting the application should be weighed against the views of three neighbours who would be affected by the extension.

He added it would have an adverse effect on the appearance of the Grade II listed building, which has been a Catholic church since 1952 and was built on the site of the former Presbyterian Meeting House, erected in 1778.

"Inappropriate form, bulk and scale" of the extension would impact on views of the building from within the conservation area, Mr Parker said.

Bewdley town councillor and deputy mayor Jeremy Ferguson told planners trees would screen 90 per cent of the extension from neighbours' view, adding the town body had been in favour of the change.

Committee member Councillor Fran Oborski said the closest Catholic churches were in Kidderminster and Stourport and was pleased to see the church striving to conform to the Disability Discrimination Act.

"Disabled and elderly people have as much right to go to church as those of us who are able-bodied," she added.

But Howard Martin said approving the scheme would set "too much of a precedent".

"It would be tantamount to driving a horse and carriage through our conservation policy," he added.

Father John Cross, the parish priest for St Wulstan's in Stourport with special responsibility for Holy Family, declined to comment on the decision.