Invitation to the Exhibition Circular
Courtland Properties Ltd held an exhibition of its proposals in Birch Memorial Hall on Friday 19th May 2006. The text of the invitation to this exhibition is reproduced below. Underlined parts of the text are links to comments lower down this page.
Some households in Birch, such as those in Mill Lane, did not receive a copy of the invitation until the evening of Wednesday 17th May, less than 48 hours before the exhibition. From comments received subsequently it would appear several households in the village did not receive it at all.
An interesting feature of the circular as delivered to local households was the absence of any indication of who it was issued by. We now know it was prepared and issued by Courtland Properties (Birch) Ltd but the document carried no contact details such as an address, telephone number or the name of a company representative available for questions or comments.
The fronting sheet giving the place, date and time of the exhibition carried the title Proposals to Save St Peter's Church, Birch. The proposals would not in fact save St Peter's as a church. The interior would be radically changed, through conversion to residential accommodation, and there would be no public access or facilities.
A more illuminating title might have been Proposals for Three Residential Developments in Birch, including the Conversion of Birch Church to Six Residential Apartments.
Text of the Circular
St Peter's Church, Birch.
Over the past 2 years the Diocese of Chelmsford together with a property company, Courtland Properties (Birch) Limited, have been working on proposals which would save the derelict Church, St Peter's, from demolition. These proposals would involve land adjoining the Church. The owner of this land has agreed to support this venture.
St Peter's was built in 1849 by the famous Victorian architect Samuel Sanders Teulon. Matthew Saunders of the Ancient Monument Society has described St Peter's as "Teulon at his most accomplished but calm. Its importance in his work is multiplied by its role as a dominant landmark in the village. The most potent symbol is the tower and spire, literally aspiring to heaven."
The Church and its spire is a considerable local landmark and "it is hard to imagine the village without it." There have been a number of attempts to save it from demolition. However none of these has been successful due to the considerable cost involved in the restoration and maintenance of the building.
The current proposals have been extensively discussed with the Local Planning Authority, Colchester Borough Council, and with English Heritage. Following consultation with residents in the area and with local councillors, the intention is to submit a planning application and seek approval for the project.
The Council requires that any restoration of the Church shall result in the building having a "sustainable" use. They wish to ensure that the use of the building is such that it will be supported and maintained in the years ahead. The proposals involve the Church being converted to residential use, with the basic structure including the spire being retained and the centre being converted to a courtyard.
The high cost of this conversion cannot be covered by the revenue from the sale of the residences within the Church and to finance the substantial shortfall, a limited amount of additional housing is to be provided on adjoining land. This housing and its location has been the subject of detailed discussions with the Council and has been tested by the criteria laid down by English Heritage for acceptable enabling development.
A public exhibition of the proposals is being made at the Memorial Hall Birch on Friday May 19th between 2pm and 8pm and you are invited to come along to discuss the proposals with the project's sponsors and professional team.
Comments on the Text
The first sentence gives the impression that the proposals are ones which the Diocese of Chelmsford has been working on, with the assistance of Courtland Properties. Was that intentional, to encourage support for the scheme by trading on the good name of the Church? The sole sponsor and initiator of these proposals is Courtland Properties, not the Diocese of Chelmsford.
Neither of the two 'enabling' developments will be on land which could fairly be described as land adjoining the Church. One is to be sited near the top of Orpens hill, north of the last house on the Colchester side of the village. The other is to be sited south of the village hall on the Layer Breton side of the village.
If the developer has been discussing these proposals with the Diocese for two years (probably three or more actually) and "extensively discussed" them with Colchester Borough Council and English Heritage, how is it that no one in the village, including members of the Parish Council and the Rector, heard or knew anything about them until a few days before the exhibition on 19th May 2006? Not surprisingly there is a suspicion that the developer deliberately chose to keep the proposals quiet until this late stage. Why?
Courtland says Colchester Borough Council wish to ensure that the use of the building is such that it will be supported and maintained in the years ahead. Courtland has yet to provide a convincing explanation of how the long-term maintenance of the tower and spire is to be funded. The developers openly declared, at the Parish Council meeting on 5th June 2006, that they will not take on the long-term liability and they did not suggest the occupants of the converted church would be responsible for it. Courtland has talked of setting up a trust for the purpose but its Directors have made it clear they do not propose to fully fund the trust.
The phrase 'a limited amount of additional housing' is no doubt open to some latitude of interpretation. Courtland at this stage are talking about two developments, one of four £500,000 houses and another of ten houses with prices starting at £240,000.