Worcester Consistory Court: Mynors Ch, June 2005
The petitioners sought a faculty to install a ramp at the east end of the church, create a new north door, introduce a new accessible lavatory and subdivide the choir vestry to provide a new office. No objections were received, planning permission had been granted and the DAC had recommended a faculty be granted. The chancellor raised a concern that the arrangement appeared to relegate disabled people away from the main door. He proposed a solution so that the west door should be made accessible to all. The petitioners identified practical difficulties with that solution. The chancellor reviewed in detail the Disability Discrimination Act identifying inter alia the anti-commercial duties placed upon organisations covered by the Act. The difficulty raised by the provision of a ramp as opposed to clearly marked steps was identified. He concluded that as far as possible the best way to comply with the Act, both legally and theologically was for access to and within the church and church hall to be provided in the same way for all. He concluded that the best compromise was to create one common entrance for all at an adapted west door, but as the desire of the parish was to have the north door ramped regardless of any other provision, he granted a faculty as prayed. He noted that the proposal was not so elaborate and expensive that further works at the west door could not be carried out in future.
The comprehensive discussion of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 contained in this judgment has been adopted in subsequent decisions including Re St Mary, Slaugham (No 2) (Chichester Consistory Court, January 2006, unreported) per Hill Ch.
(2006) 8 Ecc LJ 493
