St Marys Church - Planning Application

Sun 5 Apr 2009, 19:09

I don't really have any feelings on the walled garden and personally find it very difficult to get worked up either way. But I'm saddened by the way that the debate is being conducted (not meant specifically about your posting, Neil, I've had a handful of conversations with people about this).

The church provides a lot for the people of Charlbury - not least the upkeep of one of the best-used footpaths in the town, and the maintenance of this very attractive space (just the works on the trees alone is a very considerable expense). St Mary's (and Chipping Norton deanery in general) also does a huge amount of 'pastoral care' for, in particular, the older and less mobile members of the community.

Charlbury people, usually non-churchgoers, benefit from St Mary's as the "traditional" location for weddings and funerals - itself one of the most remarkable acts of charity that the CofE provides: the wedding fee of £313 is incredibly low in the context of a typical £11,000 budget! And of course this very planning application is to help provide a garden of remembrance where the ashes of Charlbury people can be interred.

In ten years of living in Charlbury this is the first time, as far as I'm aware, that the church has asked anything significant of the wider community (i.e. for planning permission). I am a little disappointed that the response has been a very quick rush to judgement, a "why weren't we asked?" and a "please send your objection to WODC", without any appreciation of the services that the church gives to Charlbury.

It's also worth pointing out that planning matters for churches are much stricter than ordinary planning applications, as not only does the parish have to go through the usual process with a planning authority, but it also has to seek a 'faculty' from the diocese - essentially ecclesiastical planning permission, and not at all something that can be taken for granted. I do also know that an enormous amount of work has gone into achieving a sympathetic design for this project, and to damn it as an "eyesore" is, I think, very unfair to those who work so hard to keep St Mary's a beautiful place for the rest of the town.

(I should point out that I'm writing this in a personal capacity, rather than as St Mary's organist, the site administrator, or indeed the husband of one of the churchwardens!)