Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007

Pastoral (church buildings disposal) schemes

44 Use seeking period

Section 49 shall be amended as follows—

(a) for the heading there shall be substituted the following heading “Use seeking period”;

(b) in subsection (1), the words from “, and the Commissioners” to the end of the subsection and the provisos shall be omitted;

(c) at the end of that subsection the following words shall be added—

“Provided that the Commissioners shall not prepare a pastoral (church buildings disposal) scheme in respect of a building closed for regular public worship for a period of six months after the declaration takes effect if the scheme provides for the demolition of a building which is either a listed building or situated in a conservation area, unless the Commissioners are satisfied, after consulting the Church Buildings Council, that, at that stage, there is no objection to the demolition taking place.”;

(d) in subsection (2)(b) after the word “faculty” there shall be inserted the words “, but after consulting the Diocesan Advisory Committee and the chancellor of the diocese unless the board considers that, having regard to the urgency of the need to safeguard the contents, it is not practicable to do so,”;

(e) subsection (2)(d) shall be omitted; and

(f) in subsection (4) for the words “Advisory Board” there shall be substituted the words “Church Buildings Council”.

45 Procedure for making pastoral (church buildings disposal) schemes

Section 50 shall be amended as follows—

(a) in subsection (1), for the words from the beginning to the word “fulfilled” there shall be substituted the words “The Commissioners may at any time or, where the proviso to section 49(1) applies, after the period of six months mentioned therein has expired”;

(b) in subsection (1), for the word “three”, in both places where it occurs, there shall be substituted the word “two”;

(c) in subsection (2), for the words from the beginning to “Advisory Board” there shall be substituted the words “Before preparing any such draft scheme which provides for the demolition or the care and maintenance by the Churches Conservation Trust of the building closed for regular public worship or any part thereof the Commissioners shall consult the Church Buildings Council”, for the words “said Board” there shall be substituted the word “Council”, for the word “their” there shall be substituted the word “its” and the words “paragraph (b) of” shall be omitted;

(d) after subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(2A) After preparing the draft scheme and before proceeding under the following provisions of this section the Commissioners shall consult the bishop.”;

(e) in subsection (3) there shall be inserted, at the beginning, the words “After taking into account any comments made by the bishop, if they decide to proceed with the draft scheme,”, after the word “concerned,” there shall be inserted the words “, the parish council or parish meeting concerned,” and for the words “Advisory Board” there shall be substituted the words “Church Buildings Council”;

(f) After subsection (4) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(4A) Where the draft scheme makes or is to make any such provision as is referred to in section 51(1)(a) and it is proposed to make any architectural or structural changes in the building closed for regular public worship or any part thereof to facilitate the use or uses referred to in that section, the Commissioners shall not make the scheme unless they have first consulted the Church Buildings Council on those proposed changes.”;

(g) after subsection (5) there shall be added the following subsections—

“(5A) The Commissioners may, if they think fit, afford an opportunity to any person, whether he has made written representations or not, to make oral representations with respect to the draft scheme.

(5B) The Commissioners may, before or after the period within which written representations may be made under this section, extend that period, and any representations made within the period so extended shall be deemed to be duly made.

(5C) The Commissioners may at any time make such amendments to the draft scheme as may appear to them to be necessary for the purposes of correcting any drafting mistake or omission.”; and

(h) in subsection (9) for the words “pastoral schemes” there shall be substituted the words “pastoral church buildings schemes”.

46 Contents of pastoral (church buildings disposal) schemes

Section 51 shall be amended as follows—

(a) in subsection (1)(b), for the words “Advisory Board” there shall be substituted the words “Church Buildings Council”;

(b) in subsection (2)(c), after the word “Commissioners” there shall be inserted the words “or the diocesan board of finance”;

(c) in subsection (7), for the words “(2) or (3)” there shall be substituted the words “(2), (3) or (4)”; and

(d) in subsection (9), after the words “makes provision”, there shall be inserted the words “, within the period of three years from the declaration of closure or such longer period as the Commissioners may allow,”.