Church obliged to follow code on re-ordering

BY Moos MACDONALD THE CATHOLIC CHURCH is to retain its exemption from listed building controls, National Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke announced this week but only if it regulates itself more carefully, taking into account the views of secular heritage bodies and responding more to the concerns of ordinary parishioners.
The Catholic Church joins six other mainstream denominations in England and Wales, including the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the Baptist
Church, in retaining the muchenvied exemption. It allows them to carry out re-ordering or other building work on historically important churches and cathedrals without applying to local authorities for planning permission.
But in return, the six Churches have promised to conform to a strict new Department of Heritage code of practice which gives outside heritage bodies a say in internal Church affairs for the first time, and lays down a more rigorous procedure for consulting the public.
The new proposals unveiled by Mr Brooke in a written Commons answer are likely to strengthen the hand of parishioners who object to plans for the drastic re-ordering or demolition of their listed church buildings.
According to the code of practice, parish priests will now have to display the plans of any intended changes outside their churches, as well as publish them in local newspapers, before calling in the builders or bulldozers. All parties would have a statutory 28 days in which to register objections.
Bishops' Conference plans for new diocesan "Historic Churches Committees" revealed exclusively in the Catholic Herald earlier this year are believed to have convinced Mr Brooke that the Catholic Church in England and Wales was serious about protecting its heritage.
Such committees bringing together a diocese's Vicar General, finance officer and art and architecture committee members with representatives of local authority planning departments and conservation bodies such as English Heritage and the Victorian Society would have to approve each reordering or re-building proposal, and would arbitrate in disputes between parish priests and parishioners.
The I heritage Secretary said the new controls were "far more than a gentleman's agreement", warning that if Church bodies did not meet the standards laid down by the code, exemption could be withdrawn. Each of the six denominations would be assessed every two years to see if their "control systems" were still up to the mark, he said.
The Churches have consistently argued that the imposition of secular controls undermines their right to make changes to their own property especially where changes are on purely liturgical grounds whilst conservationists say rules designed to preserve historically important buildings should apply to all equally.
The new proposals signal a hard-fought compromise which obliges Church authorities to consult more widely in return for retaining their exemptions.