LOTTERY cash could save the future of the historic Govan Old Parish Church - earmarked for closure under church merger plans.

Glasgow City Council has now made an application for £2million under the Lottery's Townscape Heritage Initiative.

If the bid is successful it is expected the cash will be matched by other organisations.

Govan councillor John Flanagan hopes the cash would be enough for the running and upkeep of the building so that it could stay open as a working church.

The decision by an arbitration committee of the Church of Scotland to close the church as part of a merger of three Govan parishes has been widely condemned.

The building is on a sixth-century religious site and contains some of the most important relics of early Christianity in Scotland.

They include 31 highly decorated sculptured stones dating from the 9th and 10th centuries as well as a stone sarcophagus - an ancient stone coffin.

Under the Kirk proposals all parishioners at Govan Old and Linthouse St Kenneth's churches would worship at New Govan Church from October.

It would be up to the new Kirk Session to decide on the fate of the buildings.

Councillor Flanagan said: "I did not expect Govan Old to close and I would be looking for church services to continue there.

"The Church of Scotland has promised me it will not abandon Govan Old and even if services could alternate between the buildings that would be better than closure.

"This lottery bid would be a good start and I would be looking for other bodies like Historic Scotland and Culture and Sport Glasgow to help out.

"This church must not be left to close, that would not be acceptable."

He said he was setting up a series of meetings with interested bodies including the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The importance of Govan Old Church, he said, was on a par with Iona and St Andrews Cathedral.

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: "Sadly, it is rarely possible to please everyone in situations like this.

"However, the arbitration committee gave full consideration to all factors before reaching its final decision."

A city council spokesman explained that the Townscape Heritage Initiative is a Lottery programme which gives grants to projects that develop historic sites.

He said: "Govan Parish Church is just one of a number of sites in Govan that are being looked at in this wider application, one that relates to buildings that are of archealogical, architectural and historic importance.

"The church, an A-listed building, certainly fits all three criteria."