Pleasant area surrounding a church council's meeting place (6)

I believe the answer is:

nicaea

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'church council's meeting place' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'pleasant area surrounding a' is the wordplay.
'pleasant' becomes 'nice' (associated in meaning).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'surrounding' indicates putting letters inside.
'nice'+'a'='nicea'
'nicea' enclosing 'a' is 'NICAEA'.

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