A typewritten copy of the article from the "Salford Advertiser" dated Thursday March 14th 2002. I do not have a scanner so I have typed the article and apologise if I have made any typing errors. (I did correct a couple of glaring grammatical errors I found within the original article! ) "PLANNERS TO VISIT GRAVEYARD Planning bosses have decided to take a look for themselves before deciding the future of Barton Wesleyan Methodist Church. Salford Council's planning committee has scheduled a site visit for today (Thursday) before deciding whether to grant planning permission for a block of 32 flats and a car park on the site. Developers Abbotsound Ltd have applied to demolish the 200 year old church for the four storey building along with parts of the graveyard - known to contain over 6,500 graves. A large crowd of protestors gathered at the planning meeting at the Swinton Civic Centre last week, and many left the meeting feeling they had been 'brushed off' by the committee. But planning chairman Cllr Joe Holt said: "It is no good us sitting here and saying yes, yes, yes. I have seen it but the members of the committee have not." "In two weeks time it will come back before this committee." Barton Councillor Neville Clarke, who has protested against the development since the original planning application, added that drainage for the 32 flat development could encroach upon the graveyard despite the developers' insistence that buried remains would not be affected." Article ends. This confirms Councillor Clarke's email and also shows that the paper does seem to be at least slightly sympathetic to the cause. Unfortunately work commitments prevented me from attending the planning meeting. Cheers Sheila