THE COST of repairing two Victorian chapels in Odiham is higher than expected.

Members of Odiham Parish Council were discussing quotes for work to repair the grade II-listed buildings at the cemetery in King Street.

The two mortuary chapels, with the north for non-conformists and the south for Anglicans, were built in the late 19th century. The last major renovation occurred in 1991 and the buildings are currently used for storage.

The parish council had set aside £12,500 this year for more work on the chapels, which Councillor James Robinson-Giannasi said was made more pressing by damage to the roofs in the recent bad weather.

He added the most suitable quote would use almost all of the budget and would only be for repair work to the roofs, and would exclude other costs such as scaffolding and installing lightning conductors and flashing.

Cllr Mark Faulkner, chairman of the parish council, said: “It looks like we can only afford to do one chapel. Can we see which chapel needs the most work and can we get the scaffolding to do it?”

Members agreed to request another quote for work to be done on the south chapel, said to be the worst affected of the two.

The meeting heard that more money had been set aside for renovation work in the 2014-15 budget.

The cemetery was created by the Odiham Burial Board in the 19th century after the churchyard in The Bury became full. The parish council then took over responsibil-ity for the cemetery in 1894.