The decision of a St Ives church to sell its parish rooms to the highest bidder instead of a community group, has been called a betrayal of the town for "30 pieces of silver'.

Morag Robertson, chair of the St Ives Community Land Trust, says that the vicar of St Ia Parish Church, and Canon at Truro Cathedral, Andrew Gough, along with two members of the Parochial Church Council who have been handling the sale, are being accused of ignoring the public and selling off a building ,which has been in community use for 170 years, as a development opportunity to the highest bidder.

Adding that this argument comes hot on the heels of much debate in the town during the last year on the effect of development on the resident community, which caused a flurry of national press coverage.

Morag said that the St Ives Community Land Trust made an offer of £300,000, and that she was, "disgusted with the attitude of the Church".

"We have been seeking to meet with them since July 2014, to discuss our funding situation and keeping the building in community hands in perpetuity. Every time, we have been rejected and up until now, we have been holding back from making the situation public in order to give the parochial church council a chance to meet with us," said Morag.

“It’s been used for 10 years by the popular St Ives Archive Centre. Last year a group of craft makers were establishing a thriving market place there too. This decision will put those businesses in jeopardy.

“I was told by the vicar to ‘live in the real world’, which I’m assuming for him is a world dominated by the cost of something and not the value of it," she added.

Morag says that Canon Andrew Gough stated in a response to the Bishop of Truro about the sale of building: “I have been working closely with our church treasurer who is a retired area manager for Lloyds TSB and our chairman of buildings and works, a very clever retired professor Dr Steve Brewer, to make sure we get the best possible return for our investment. All this is being done fairly and with guidance from our appointed estate agents.”

The trust says that the building was one of the ‘National Schools’ set up under the National Society for Promoting Religious Education Trust. The site was leased on trust from Henry Lewis Stephens of Tregenna to the vicar and curate of St Ives for 99 years at an annual rent of 5 shillings, on the condition of building a National School.

Adding that the deed of trust of 1845 explicitly stated the building was to be ‘used as and for a school for the education of children and adults, or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Borough of St Ives, such school to be always in union with the incorporated National Society for Promoting the Education of the poor in the principals of the established church.’

Its running costs were met by an annual grant from the state, not from the Church of England. In 1885 this was £165/9/4d (£15,590 in today’s values). These were supplemented by voluntary subscriptions from local people, and in the days before free education for all, weekly fees, part of which at St Ives was refunded at the end of the school year to regular attenders. In 1894 voluntary subscriptions from local people amounted to £45.

The school was extended in 1865 and again in 1898, when the Parish Room was added. Again, much of the cost was met by voluntary subscriptions from local people. In 1900 the original 1845 lease (with its original conditions) and a number of other leases which had been acquired for the extension of the school in 1898 were all assigned by Thomas Bedford Bolitho to the Rev Richard Frederick Tyacke and Rev. John Balmer Jones, vicars of St Ives. The school continued on the site until 1922, but the parish room continued to be used by the County School as late as the 1960s.

An unusual example of the many uses the parish rooms have had over the years, was in the 1970s when the then Bishop of Truro allowed a group of “hippies” to stay in the rooms after being evicted from another part of town.

West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, has been following the recent developments.

Mr George said: "I raised my concerns about this with the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton. I am grateful that he responded swiftly and with evident concern, but confirmed that he was unable to intervene in a matter which was for the PCC to determine.

"This was an opportunity for the Church to answer the question about whether it sees itself as integral to the community or as a private body which seeks to protect its own interests. It seems that it has now answered that question, but not in a good way. I regret that this may not enhance the standing of the church in the community.

"I am disappointed at this turn of events. The CLT is a force for good in St Ives. But it cannot succeed unless other community organisations which have the privilege of holding key assets are prepared to work with it.

"I will convey my disappointment to the attention of the Bishop who is a good man and who I hope will urge a rethink."