TWO communities claim the Church of England is pricing them out of the market and preventing them from buying a 100-year-old parish hall for local people.

Hopes that Cusop Parish Hall could be purchased for villagers and people living in nearby Hay-on-Wye appear to have been stymied by a decision by the Diocese of Hereford to sell the building to the highest bidder.

But the Church says it is required by law to sell the hall for the best possible price.

The hall was built in 1909 but became the responsibility of the Church in the 1970s and has increasingly become more expensive to maintain.

The village hall committee has bought land behind the existing hall with hopes of erecting a new building but that depends on raising £300,000.

"We are a very small community and this is a lot of money. Raising it will take it several years and will depend upon our ability to attract lottery funding and other grants," said Neville Jones, chairman of the committee.

"It is far from certain that we will raise the money and therefore we hoped to buy the existing hall so that we can use it in the interim and have a fallback option of renovating it."

He claimed that the District Valuer had put a price of £45,000 on the hall and the committee had been in discussion with the Church for several years.

Mr Jones said local people were shocked to discover that the building was up for sale at auction with a guide price of between £75,000 and £85,000.

"The original valuation is an estimate of its worth as a village hall but the higher price represents its potential commercial value. Cusop Parish Hall is an important facility for the local community. It was originally built with money from local people and gifted to the Church," he said.

Anni Holden, for the Diocese of Hereford, said the Church had no choice but to try to get the best possible price.

"This kind of situation arises from time to time with buildings such as halls and schools. Charity law applies and we cannot give buildings away or sell them to who we choose but have to sell for the best price we can get.

"We realise this is a dilemma and understand the concerns of the local community. The Church would prefer a situation in which this could be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned," she added.