ROMAN Catholics are set to worship under one roof in a major shake-up that will see churches on prime sites across Weymouth and Portland sold off for redevelopment.

The Diocese of Plymouth is negotiating to build a new church on land near Weymouth Football Club at Chickerell.

The move to create one borough-wide Catholic parish under the charge of one priest will see the disposal of St Augustine's on Dorchester Road and St Joseph's on Stavordale Road in Weymouth, and the church of Our Lady and St Andrew at the Grove on Portland.

The plans were revealed by St Augustine's parish priest Father Philip Dyson who is leaving Weymouth after six-and-a-half years for a new community in Cornwall.

His successor, Fr Stephen Geddes, will be in charge of the new Weymouth and Portland parish which is set to be created next year.

Fr Dyson said although there was not a shortage of worshippers at Sunday mass, a lack of new blood in the priesthood and a need to rationalise' had prompted the move.

The church of St Joseph built in 1934 is close to the town centre and a prime site for development.

St Augustine's at Lodmoor ,built in 1835 soon after the Catholic emancipation, is a Grade II-listed building.

It is set back from the main road as designers were told to construct a building that did not resemble a church, with no tower or bell.

As a result, many visiting Catholics have difficulty finding the church.

But it is standing room only at Sunday services there, especially following the closure of the Catholic mass centres at Upwey and Preston. The growth of the Polish community has also added to demand.

Fr Dyson said: "The plan is to pull everything together with one priest and a new church.

"Negotiations are ongoing between the trustees of the diocese and a developer but I understand the proposal is to site the new church somewhere near the football club.

"It will be sad to leave the existing churches but we are packed out and I think it would be much more comfortable in a bigger building.

"We're very much part of the community but Weymouth is expanding and I don't anticipate problems with access to the new church.

"We would like to be in the town centre but it's finding a site and of course there is a terrible problem with parking which we understand many of the churches suffer from. As part of the plan we would like to have a mass centre on Portland for the benefit of people there."

Fr Dyson was a key figure in the campaign to support the deportation-threatened Kachepa family and headed a rough sleepers' action group.

He said: "These are big changes but life is always changing. It's a new impetus, a new focus. At the end of the day for us it's not about the building, it's where the Lord is.

"We are familiar with the old but there's also an excitement about going somewhere new."