This unopposed petition was for the removal of a commemorative plaque, installed without a faculty, on the windowsill of the south wall of the nave of the Grade II* listed church. In order to protect the privacy of any person affected by the judgment, the names of the church and the people involved were anonymised.
The plaque had been installed, without a faculty, to commemorate a previous (and by then deceased) churchwarden's years of service to the church. The PCC were alerted years later that the individual concerned had been convicted of sexual abuse in the 1950s. The individual's children were informed of the faculty application. They had been unaware of their father's conviction and were understandably upset. They did not want the plaque back and did not withhold consent to the faculty.
The court had regard to the Guidance on Contested Heritage issued by the Church Buildings Council and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England in 2011. The Guidance emphasised that it was of particular importance to the church that its buildings should be welcoming to all, with symbols of injustice and sources of pain being acknowledged and addressed.
The PCC had queried whether a faculty to remove the plaque was required as it had been installed without permission. Although the plaque had been introduced without a faculty, it was nevertheless now subject to the faculty jurisdiction, and a faculty would be required for its removal. Applying Re St Alkmund, Duffield, the court was satisfied that the proposal to remove the plaque caused no harm to the significance of the church as a Grade II* listed building. The petitioner had shown a sufficiently good reason for the removal of the commemorative plaque to overcome the ordinary presumption in favour of things as they stand.
