[Bell Historians] Faculty Petition - advice please

[John Camp]

At 16:59 on 18 August 2009, David Beacham wrote:
> ...  a petition to install a flat 6th in my own church (Worcester,
> All Saints) has got hung up on a late direction by the Diocesan
> Registrar.  The petition had completed all the usual processes, i.e.
> consultation with the DAC, English Heritage and the Georgian Group
> (it being an C18 church) and no objections raised.  Now, the
> Registrar is saying that it also needs to be referred to the Local
> Authority and a Public Notice inserted in the local press.  He cites
> the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2000, Sections 13 (3) and (4) and
> Appendix B as requiring this action.

...

> Can anyone out there with the required specialist (legal) knowledge
> say whether or not the Diocesan Registrar is interpreting the rules
> correctly?  Has any other church had to involve the Local Authority
> in this way in recent times?

Briefly:

The Registrar appears to have misunderstood the rules.  Certainly the
rules cited do not justify the requirement.

The Registrar cannot, in any case, act off his own bat.  It is the
Chancellor who makes the decision (in theory, anyway).  You might be
able to spike the Registrar's guns by asking whether he has the
specific authority of the Chancellor in making this requirement.

John Camp