PLANS to reorganise the Church of England parish of Newport have been given the green light by the Bishop's Council.

The original proposal to merge Newport with the surrounding rural parishes has been altered, following consultations, and the parishes of Arreton and Newchurch have been removed from the reorganisation plans.

The new plan sees the parishes of Newport Minster, St John’s Newport, Carisbrooke and Barton forming one new team ministry, with a team rector, a team vicar and a church-planting team vicar — those three clergy would also be responsible for the parish of Gatcombe.

If the proposals are approved, the creation of the team ministry means that the existing clergy would be made redundant.

The current clergy can apply for the new posts, a diocese spokesperson said.

The reorganisation initiative, which also involves Gosport and Leigh Park on the mainland, is designed to increase the spiritual impact of the Church of England, the Diocese of Portsmouth said.

An investment of £9.65 million has been earmarked for areas across the diocese, including Newport.

The Bishop’s Council is made up of clergy and lay people who are elected by worshippers from each area of the diocese.

Since October, they have sifted through hundreds of emails, letters and petitions, hosted public meetings and held around 30 other meetings with individual clergy and PCCs.

In Gosport, Newport and the Leigh Park estates, the new investment would involve appointing new pioneer ministers, operations managers, youth ministers and others to work alongside traditional parish clergy.

It would be partly up to worshippers themselves to work out the ultimate shape of the teams in each new parish, the diocese said.

Those directly affected by these proposals will now be able to give their responses during an eight-week period of formal consultation before the Bishop’s Council makes its final recommendation in April.

If approved, there is then another formal consultation process with the Church Commissioners, after which a final decision will be made.

The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, said: “The aim is to revitalise the work of the Church of England within our diocese, to inspire greater spiritual depth, ensure a bigger impact on society and to enlarge our congregations.

"We’ll do that through traditional parish ministry alongside more innovative ways of doing church.

"We believe these plans will give us the foundation to do that. We’re keen to continue to work alongside individual churches to work out what kind of issues people face in those areas, and what kind of ministers we should be appointing to help local people to embrace the Christian faith. That could look very different in each place."