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Re St Mary the Virgin, Ashford

Canterbury Commissary Court: Walker Com Gen, June 2010 Reordering – government funding – ‘adverse effect’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2010

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Vicar of St Paul, Winchmore Hill
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2011

A faculty was granted for a major reordering of the interior of the church, to include the replacement of the dais and seating in the nave, the upgrading of the heating, lighting, kitchen and lavatory facilities, improvement of disabled access, internal redecoration and the relocation of the font and pulpit. At a late stage the petitioners made an additional application for the installation of a ground source heat pump and rainwater harvesting tank, with the approval of the planning authority. Funding for the proposed project had been made available through the government's Growth Area Fund, with the support of Ashford Borough Council and the agency Ashford's Future, both of which bodies were petitioners along with the incumbent. The DAC noted that the proposed works would affect the character of the building, but recommended the scheme. The Victorian Society and an individual parishioner formally opposed the application, which was heard in open court. The commissary general applied the Bishopsgate questions, as they have developed, and as summarised by Hill Ch in Re St Mary, Newick (2009) 11 Ecc LJ 127, an approach commended by the Court of Arches in Re St Peter, Draycott (2009) 11 Ecc LJ 365. He found that the petitioners had overwhelmingly shown that the proposed works were necessary. He was only just convinced that they would not adversely affect the character of the building, but that even if they had, the necessity shown would have outweighed the adverse effect.Footnote 3 [WA]

References

3 An application for leave to appeal this judgment was dismissed by the Dean of Arches in a written determination dated 20 September 2010.