A village church that had been put up for sale has been "saved" from development by a council.

Wye Parish Council has bought the former Methodist Church in Bridge Street after it was listed for auction.

The council took on a loan of more than £300,000 to purchase the property to stave off bids from individuals and developers.

The 154-year-old building was initially listed for auction in September 2021 alongside two other former Methodist churches in Headcorn and Ruckinge, but was taken off after the council applied for it to be registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

Parish council chairman Noel Ovenden described the venue as "a thriving community hub".

"For generations the building was central to village life, and before Covid, around a thousand community group activities took place inside each year," he added.

"Here in Wye we have had so many stories of losing old buildings to developers but we were adamant that it would not happen here."

After the application was granted, the parish council made a number of offers to the Methodist Church for the building, but were rejected in favour of it being put back up for auction.

Described by auctioneers Clime Emson as "an attractive building with a mezzanine room to the first floor", the former place of worship was relisted at a guide price of £150,000 and above.

Following what the council described as a "tense" online auction, it eventually submitted a winning bid of £332,000 for the building, having taken on a loan for the full amount.

It is understood the council will be able to repay the loan – which also includes options of about £100,000 additional funding for any work necessary on the Grade-II listed building – without increasing fees for residents in the village.

"We haven't raised the village precept in order to borrow that money, we can accommodate it into the existing one with no further cost to the community," Cllr Ovenden explained.

"It was quite nerve-wracking getting everything done because it all happened in the space of the last three or four weeks, but we entered the auction and the rest is history.

"The focus will now turn to bringing it back into the community. Its appearance will not change and we have no real intentions currently of changing its internal purpose and what it means for the village.

"Parish council ownership gives security, and we can all now look forward to reviving this old building for community benefit, but first, it will need repair and some love."

The church, in Bridge Street, is one of two of the three listed at the same time that has been saved by its community, alongside the one in Headcorn.

The other listing in Ruckinge had already been converted into a one-bedroom detached home by the time that it went up for auction.