Campaigners serve notice on Reverend in bid to flush out controversial church plans

Friday 05 January 2018

Campaigners are looking to ‘pew-pew’ plans to build a new toilet near the entrance of an 800-year-old parish church by invoking a centuries-old ecclesiastical law.

St Lawrence parishioners want to put a stop to proposals to add an extension to their beloved local church, which would involve the installation of a toilet and better disabled access.

The fight has been long-running and involved a counter-planning application. In this latest development, campaigners are calling on an 1804 law to put an end to the holy row.

Reverend Phil Warren, the Rector for St Lawrence, was yesterday handed a notice requiring an Ecclesiastical Assembly to be convened on the matter “dans l’espace d’une quinzaine de jours” (within 15 days).

Pictured: St Lawrence Constable Deirdre Mezbourian with some of the campaigners.

While the Reverend accepted the notice, which had been signed by 10 parishioners, he is reported to be taking legal advice on the matter. 

If an Assembly is held, parishioners could have the opportunity to stop external development on the 12^th Century building as soon as 19 January. The Assembly would also be asked to consider alternative plans to house the toilet within the church.

The original toilet proposal went to a parish assembly in July 2015 and was determined by a show of hands involving 34 people. The plans were initially rejected by the Planning Committee, but later approved on appeal.

£80,000 of parish funds have so far been spent on the project.

Parishioners, campaigners and historic building experts have criticised the plans, arguing that it will damage the historic integrity of St Lawrence Church.

A consultant Archeologist to Westminster Abbey has even stepped into the debate. Professor Warwick Rodwell commented that the approved extension would cause “irreparable aesthetic, architectural and archaeological damage to one of the Island’s finest medieval buildings.”