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Re All Saints, Ockham

Guildford Consistory Court: Jordan Ch, January 2009 Extension – matters left to discretion of petitioners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2009

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Rector of Girton, Ely Diocesan Ecumenical Officer
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2009

The churchwardens and incumbent sought a faculty for the building of a small extension to the Grade I listed church to house a vestry and disabled WC. The Georgian Group objected strongly to the proposal. The Church Buildings Council and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings offered a number of alternative proposals for consideration. The chancellor stated that it was not the function of the chancellor to make detailed aesthetic decisions about what are essentially matters of architectural detail, especially where the decision is the subject of widely differing views by professional bodies who hold legitimate views that cannot be classified as perverse or irrational. He held that, in such circumstances, the chancellor might properly regard some decisions as within the range of decisions that the petitioners might determine, assisted by professional advisers whose good faith cannot be challenged. In granting the faculty, the chancellor left a number of such details to the discretion of the petitioners, including the exact height of the extension, the manner in which the extension would be supported and the manner of rainwater disposal. [RA]