Re: St. Michael and All Angels, South Westoe (Durham Consistory Court; Bursell Ch. 13 July 1990)

In September 1989 a petition was lodged for a faculty to install a heating unit and external floodlighting at a church which was undergoing substantial restoration under the authority of a separate faculty. The installation of the heating unit and the floodlights was undertaken by the supervising architect, a member of the D.A.C, before an appropriate faculty had been granted. At the hearing the Chancellor directed that the petition be amended to seek a confirmatory faculty, and proceeded to grant such a faculty on the grounds that there was no objection to it (the installations having the approval of the D.A.C.) and that the petitioners and the architect, although they had flouted the law, were activated by their mission to restore the church. The architect was aware of the need for a faculty but then took it upon himself to permit contractors to do works
which to his knowledge were illegal. Accordingly he was ordered to pay part of the costs, and question of his continued membership of the D.A.C. was referred to the Bishop.

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(1991) 2 Ecc LJ 130