The church was devastated by a deliberately-lit fire in 2014 and doubts over its future have remained ever since.

And the much-publicised financial difficulties of the Bathurst Anglican Diocese only served to heighten suspicions that the church would never rise from the ashes.

So confirmation from Bishop Ian Palmer that all hopes of rebuilding the church had been lost was hardly shocking years – but it is none-the less disappointing.

Bathurst is a city that rightly prides itself on its heritage and the loss of any historic building is a blow to us all.

As the oldest inland settlement in Australia, Bathurst is in a unique position to trade on its history and the last few years have seen us doing just that.

Already, though, we have seen far too many buildings from our past lost forever – either the victims of the steady march of progress or, as in this case, victims of wanton, senseless destruction.

For all that, the Anglican diocese has taken a pragmatic approach with regard to St Barnabas’ and it is hard to criticise the decision.

As Bishop Palmer points out, all church congregations are falling and there is less need now than ever for bricks and mortar places of worship.

The bishop has decided that this region’s Anglican flock is already well-served for churches and while it would be nice to see St Barnabas’ restored to its former glory, that’s not a viable option.

The interest now will be in seeing just what becomes of St Barnabas’ and whether it can be usefully re-purposed, as the Bishop hopes.

As we have seen on in this city, though, refurbishing old buildings for new uses is much easier said than done.

Not only is there the consideration of finding a suitable use for an old building but there is also the vital question of who should pay.

Heritage protection is in the whole community’s interest but the price of that protection generally falls to just a few.

We hope St Barnabas’ will one day reopen as some sort of public space, but - if the examples of the TAFE building and Dairy Farmers site are anything to go by - it would be a brave person that held their breath waiting.