Coventry Consistory Court: Gage Ch, May 2003

A faculty was granted for the removal of some pews in the nave, the erection of decking and a nave altar and the removal of sections of the chancel screen (erected 1913). The alteration of the screen was to allow for more easy movement of people through the screen between nave and chancel. There were no parties opponent but English Heritage and the Victorian Society voiced objection to the alteration of the screen. The DAC supported the scheme. The Chancellor paid attention to the guidelines set by the Court of Arches in Re St Luke the Evangelist, Maidstone [1995] Fam 1 and in particular that alterations were proposed as a result of changes in liturgical practice and that adversely affected the character of the building needed to pass a test of necessity before being allowed. He found that the modification of the screen would not cause an adverse effect and that the petitioners did not need to meet the requirement of necessity. The faculty was granted on condition that those parts of the screen to be removed be properly stored and maintained in a manner approved by the DAC to enable the alteration to be reversed by some future generation.

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(2004) 7 Ecc LJ 492