Archdiocese wins bitter legal fight with parish

Parishioners lose their court case against Westminster archdiocese’s £40 million development on parish land, reports Christina Farrell A LONDON parish that fought a bitter land dispute with the Diocese of Westminster has lost its case in the High Court.
Three hundred and fifty parishioners from St Mary and St Michael’s, Commercial Road, in the East End, had challenged the diocese over its decision to take parish land for the building of a £40-million school development.
They claimed that the site – a former playground and previously the graveyard for the church – had been bought by poor parishioners in the early 19th century “in perpetuity” for the benefit of the parish and the parish alone.
But in the High Court last Thursday Mr Justice Lawrence Collins ruled that the land could be utilised “for the benefit of the wider Catholic community” and the diocese was entitled to proceed with the development.
Speaking at the start of the three-day hearing Leo Price QC, counsel for the parish, said the diocese had no right to the land because control lay in deeds from 1851 that were drawn up after it was bought by “poor working people”.
He told the court that local people raised the purchase price in “pennies and sixpences and shillings”, adding: “It was an intensely local enterprise and an intensely Catholic enterprise ... It was not a diocesan enterprise.” However Mr Justice Collins said the disputed 1851 Trust Deed gave the diocese control of the land with no limitation on the “permitted objects and purposes”.
The ruling will now allow Westminster, in partnership with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Department for Education and Science, to proceed with the building of the Bishop Challoner Learning Village – a controversial school development serving a large Muslim population.
But disquiet over the case remains. The parishioners say that the playground provides a vital local amenity many children live in highrise tower blocks with no outside space – and they have vowed to fight on. Paul Howick, of solicitors Davies Arnold Cooper, said: “We are seriously considering an appeal. There are a number of grounds on which we might challenge the ruling. Our decision will be announced as soon as possible.” The battle for the playground came to a head in September last year when the parish priest Fr Francis Van Son was arrested after he attempted to stop developers working on the land. Fr Van Son had been openly critical of the diocese over many months and waged a war of words in the parish newsletter, on one occasion accusing Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of behaving like a Pharisee. He has since left St Mary and St Michael’s on health grounds after the cardinal demanded his removal to another parish.
Yet there are questions over the scale of the develop ment. Westminster has already conceded that in an area with a high Bangladeshi population, not all of the school’s pupils will be Catholic. One parishioner, who asked not to be named, said: “The existing Bishop Challoner girls’ school is only 50 per cent Catholic. How are they going to fill the school?” The diocese remains bullish about the development, insisting that it will stand by its commitment to education in the East End – one of the most deprived areas of the country.
In a statement Bishop George Stack, chairman of the diocese’s Education Commission, welcomed the High Court ruling. The project, he said, had the support of many local people and other schools and parishes in the borough.
“The Catholic church of St Mary and St Michael is at the heart of the Learning Village project,” he explained. “This development will help to ensure that children from the local Catholic community will benefit from first-class Catholic education for many years to come.” He continued: “The decision by the High Court provides an opportunity for the Catholic community to look to the future and work together to maintain faith in the city in this important part of the diocese.”