George Ferguson called on the government to change legislation that allowed covenants - which limit the purposes for which a building can be used - to be employed for ''negative purposes''. Under current regulations, the church could sell a cathedral and prevent anyone from ever using it again as aplace of worship, he said.

His comments follow a bitter fight by campaigners in Bristol to prevent a property developer from turning a listed art deco cinema into a health club. Odeon, the cinema chain that has closed a string of town centre cinemas to concentrate on its out-of-town multiplexes, sold the site under the proviso that it could never again be used as a cinema.

Last week, councillors refused listed building consent to David Lewin, a developer who has bought Whiteladies Cinema in Clifton, Bristol?s Georgian suburb.

Mr Lewin, whose property can now neither be used as a cinema nor as a health club, is set to appeal.

Mr Ferguson, who lives in the city, said: ''I am not one of those people who think that listed buildings should be placed in aspic, but it is wrong that a company like Odeon can use this method to abuse its position as the owner of a listed building.''

The practice ''needs stamping on before it becomes more widespread''.

Hattie Appleby, who runs Keep Cinema Local, a national pressure group, said restrictive covenants had been invented to stop unlawful activity on a site. Instead, Odeon had used the device as an anti-competitive practice to distort competition.

Financial Times