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 cannot tell whether this works.

'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' going around 'a' is 'NICAEA'.

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