What It Was About ...
North Dorset District Council posted 10am on Tuesday 12th September as the date when the Planning Control Committee would consider the application by the PCC of the Parish of St Peter and St Paul, Blandford Forum for the demolition of the Church Rooms in the Tabernacle and the additional promise not to go ahead with the demolition of the building until plans for a new Church Hall are to be approved.
The PCC were hoping that large numbers of supporters would attend the meeting on 12th September to represent the 1700 name petition which was presented to North Dorset in support of the application, originally submitted in March of this year. The application was deferred when Government Guidelines became known which meant that specific plans should be in place as to what would replace a demolished Listed building. As a result, the PCC requested North Dorset consider the application alongside a legally-binding declaration that should the application be granted no demolition of the hall will take place until such time as plans for a replacement hall are agreed.
The Rector, Tim Storey, said “We strongly believe that what we are putting forward is an application which is both in the best interests the community, as well as the Church, and represents a common sense approach to the problem of a building which is no longer viable. We hope that there will be many who will attend the meeting on 12th September to show their support in this.”
So What Happened at the Meeting ?
The meeting took place in the NDDC Council Chamber and there were over 30 members of the parish there to support the appication which led the Chairman to note that the chjurch had come "mob handed" ! He also apologised for the lack of a pulpit, but the Rector survived without one. The NDDC PLanning Officers, who opposed the application, presented the issues and gave their reasons as to why the application should not be agreed - namely, that permission for the the demolition of the hall would need to be accompanied by a plan for what would go in its place and that the reasons which the Church was giving for demolition did not (in their opinion) outweigh the arguments in favour of retaining the heritage of the site.
A Church Warden and the Rector outlined the arguments in favour of the proposal, including the poor state of the building and the needs of the community and this was strongly supported by a passionate Town Mayor ! After further points of order, and a red herring involving how much of the surrounding wll might be demolished, the NDDC Solicitor drew the attention of the Council to what he regarded as a legal point, stating that the affidavit which the Church had presented (not to demolish until plans for a replacement building had been approved) was, in his opinion, invalid, and therefore the application had to be rejected on this legal technicality. In the lack of any alternative legal opinion, the council had to reject the application.
So Where Now ... ?
For a significant part of the meeting, there was a strong sense of support from the council for the general principle of demolition rather than restoration and so the PCC has now to decide whether to push ahead with presenting plans to the Council or to seek alternative paths. The Chairman of the Planning Group was quite clear that he thought this is what the Church should do - and that the right plans would be favourably received by the committee. So this is where we are!
