Basildon's oldest building should be retained as a church and not converted into offices, a woman whose baby son is buried in the churchyard has said.

Sylvia Watts has today (Thursday) urged church leaders to scrap plans to convert All Saints Church in Vange into offices.

She regularly visits the church to tend to the grave of her baby son Michael who was just a day old when he died 23 years ago.

The 12th century church has not been used for services for more than three years and church commissioners have been studying plans to convert it into offices for some months.

But they insist the graveyard will remain untouched and people will still be able to tend the graves of loved ones.

However Mrs Watts, who lives in nearby Chittock Gate, said: "It is a place of peace. It shouldn't be a place for office people to wander about in.

"There are many empty office buildings in Basildon. Why do they have to pick here?"

Mrs Watts, 47, also looks after the graves of her mother Sylvia, who died at the age of 75 last September, and her father Arthur who died in 1977.

She said: "The graveyard is an important place for so many people. They want to go there for peace and quiet and to remember loved ones. It shouldn't be altered and it shouldn't be a place for offices."

Church leaders want someone to take over the Grade II listed building partly because of concerns over increasing vandalism.

They hope a continued presence at the site will deter troublemakers and will also mean the churchyard is better cared for.

Plans to convert the building into offices, a kitchen and toilet were put forward to Basildon District Council by the Listed Building Conservation Company last month.

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