Church Buildings Council and proposals for closure

The Church Buildings Council has a statutory role under the Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007 and the Pastoral Measure 1983 in the decision-making process governing the proposed partial or total closure of a consecrated church.

The Council's formal involvement begins when notified by the diocese that it is considering whether or not a church is still required as a parochial place of worship, i.e. before any firm decision has been taken about whether proposals should proceed.  This is not always because the church is 'surplus to requirements'; it may simply mean that the building is to be sub-divided or redesignated to enable its use by the local congregation or community for wider purposes, e.g. a meeting hall or youth centre, which its consecrated status would make difficult.

Once notified, the Council asks for information from the diocese and from a wide range of other organisations, visits the church(es) in question, and researches in its own archives.  A report is then prepared on the relative national and local historic interest and architectural quality of the church and its contents, including special features of the churchyard.  The report also takes account of other churches in the area.  It is then passed to the diocese to consider as part of the process of deciding whether or not the proposals should proceed to the next stage, and to other ecclesiastical and secular organisations who may have an interest in the future of the church and its contents.  For more details see Section 3(7)(b) and (8) of the Pastoral Measure 1983.

Since June 2008, the Council also acts as the statutory advisor to the Church Commissioners on the architectural, historical, archaeological and aesthetic merit of closed and closing churches and their contents. These functions are carried out by the Statutory Advisory Committee of the Council. For more details see Section 56 of the Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007.

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© The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2004-08