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Re St Mary, Stafford

Lichfield Consistory Court: Thomas Dep Ch, November 2011 Reordering – replacement of church door

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2012

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2012

A faculty was granted for the re-ordering of a Grade I listed church that included the replacement of the main church door, which dated from a restoration of the church by Gilbert Scott in the 1840s. The proposals as a whole were supported by the diocesan advisory committee (DAC), the Church Buildings Council and English Heritage (EH). Objections from the Victorian Society and parishioners were confined to the proposal to remove the door. Applying the Bishopsgate questions, the deputy chancellor held that a case of necessity had been made out: replacement of the door was necessary in terms of mission, including the accessibility of disabled people and those with young children. Although its replacement would adversely affect the character of the church, the proven necessity was such as to outweigh such adverse effect, particularly in the light of the detailed assessment of the proposals by the DAC and EH. A condition was attached to the grant of the faculty requiring that the door be retained and that consideration be given to its being displayed in the church. [Alexander McGregor]