Hereford is to host a major conference on the future use of church buildings.

A radical report by the Church of England nationally, says church buildings in rural areas could provide community facilities otherwise lacking. It suggests churches should ask for public funding to modify buildings and for the upkeep of community facilities within them.

Local authorities should be asked to view church buildings as a resource for tackling social exclusion, it says.

Now a major regional conference is to be held at Hedley Lodge, Belmont Abbey, on May 10, in response to the report.

"We have to look at the way we use our buildings in the 21st century," says one of the conference organisers, Hereford diocese community partnership and funding officer Wendy Coombey. "We need to look at our buildings in partnership with others. Each community and every church will need to work out its own scheme. No one size fits all. This conference should be seen as the first step along an exciting path.

"Organising the conference is in line with the exciting work already going on in the diocese, where partnerships are being established between parishes and local communities. Buildings are being used more widely and fully."

Major heritage organisations, local authorities, voluntary organisations and funding groups in the West Midlands , as well as parish congregations, have been invited to the conference, which like the report is entitled Building Faith in Our Future.

Speakers will include Countryside Agency chairman Stuart Burgess, Paula Griffiths who compiled the report, and the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis.