Historic Churches 2023

20 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON H ISTOR I C CHURCHE S 30th ANNUAL ED ITION THE POLITICS The DCMS guidance acknowledges the importance of keeping historic buildings in use, if they are to survive. It states: The Ecclesiastical Exemption reduces burdens on the planning system while maintaining an appropriate level of protection and reflecting the particular need of listed buildings in use as places of worship to be able to adapt to changing needs over time to ensure their survival in their intended use. 8 This acknowledges two key realities. First, the secular planning system could not handle the additional workload should the exemption be withdrawn: that situation continues to worsen, with Historic England noting that conservation officer numbers have halved since 2009.9 Second, the order recognises the legitimacy of change over time: in other words, churches are living buildings whose ability to change is essential to their survival as places of worship. Within conservation practice in the UK, the Ecclesiastical Exemption has its detractors and its defenders. For the former, the system gives unwarranted licence to the major church denominations to make their own rules, potentially leading to the degradation and destruction of some of the nation’s most important heritage. But for the exemption’s defenders, the secular system is both ill-equipped and incapable of dealing adequately with the particularity of churches and a separate system is essential if this heritage is to survive. Churches themselves will often express frustration at what they perceive as excessive bureaucracy. While at times this may be justified, this often simply reiterates the complaint (made since the inception of heritage protection) that the outside bodies should not interfere with private property. But that is to miss an important point: historic churches are a shared resource for the wider benefit of the communities in which they stand, quite apart from being of regional, national or international importance. For those who operate the system, including DAC secretaries and historic buildings officers in particular, there is an increasing emphasis on soft skills and guidance through what, to churches, can appear a bewildering landscape. (This has led to some outstanding good practice, for example where DAC secretaries take a more proactive role.) Equally, there are times when the law needs to be enforced in order to maintain the rigour of the exemption, with each system having a disciplinary mechanism. As a result, there are examples (within the Anglican system at least) of individuals facing substantial fines for unauthorised works. In his earlier article, Richard Morrice framed the exemption in negative terms, as stemming from a failure to include Church of England cathedrals in the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act, 1913 . But rather than being accident or aberration, the exemption can helpfully be seen as a model for conservation as a whole, in the way in which it recognises the legitimacy of change and the role of communities in heritage. To conclude, it has been argued that historic churches do indeed warrant a separate system, both because historic churches are living buildings for which a conventional material-focused conservation approach is insufficient, and because the secular system lacks both the requisite capacity and the expertise. Because it treats the voice of the current community seriously, the exemption also questions the relative status of expert and user, helpfully raising important questions for conservation practice as a whole. While the processes developed within the exemption may not be directly applicable outside the church sector, its foundation as a means of addressing living buildings offers a necessary corrective to conservation more broadly, which still largely ignores the role of local communities across time in the creation of heritage past, present and future. Footnotes 1 Cathedrals and their precincts are dealt with separately by Fabric Advisory Committees and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, each with decision-making powers, under the Care of Cathedrals Measure 2011 . 2 Section 35 3 Historic England, Conservation Principles: Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment, English Heritage, London 2008. http://bc-url.com/hc23-n3 4 www.ecclesiasticallawassociation.org.uk/ index.php/judgements/judgments-a-z 5 Court of Arches, Re St Alkmund Duffield , 2012, Fam 158, 2012, 39, http://bc-url.com/hc23-n5 6 DCMS, The Operation of the Ecclesiastical Exemption and Related Planning Matters for Places of Worship in England , 19 7 Introduced in the 2019 revision 8 DCMS, The Operation of the Ecclesiastical Exemption and Related Planning Matters for Places of Worship in England , 6 9 Historic England, Historic Environment Overview Spring 2022 , London, 2022 NIGEL WALTER is a specialist conservation architect and founder of the Cambridge architectural practice Archangel (www. archangelarchitects.co.uk ). He is a member of the Church Buildings Council, the Baptist Union Listed Building Advisory Committee and the ICOMOS ISC TheoPhilos. He holds a PhD in conservation (University of York) and his research focuses on living buildings. The reopening celebration service at St Mary’s, Ely after its reordering in 2022; the Ecclesiastical Exemption acknowledges the central role of communities in sustaining their historic buildings.

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