§ A building used or available for use by a minister of religion wholly or mainly as a residence from which to perform the duties of his office shall be deemed not to be a building of a description specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 30 of the Planning Act or paragraph (a) of the proviso to subsection (1) of section 27 of the Scottish Planning Act (buildings in respect of which building preservation orders are not to be made); and accordingly after the word 'purposes' in those paragraphs there shall be inserted the words other than a building used or available for use by a minister of religion wholly or mainly as a residence from which to perform the duties of his office'.—[Mr. Parker.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
1518§ Mr. John Parker (Dagenham)I beg to move, That the Clause be now read a Second time.
This Clause was also generally agreed in principle in Committee but was withdrawn so that various details could be tidied up, which has now been done. Under the Planning Acts, a building preservation order has not been made in the past in respect of any ecclesiastical building used for the time being for ecclesiastical practices.
That was assumed to apply only to places of worship, but, in 1964, an appeal was allowed that a Church of England parsonage in Gower Street should not be covered by the Planning Acts. The Clause aims at removing that anomaly. It has been approved by the Churches Main Committee and it means that planning powers now apply to manses or parsonages or any other building used wholly or mainly as residences by Ministers. It does not, of course, apply to churches.
§ Dr. MabonThe Government accept the new Clause and I should make it clear that it is acceptable after consultation with the Church of Scotland.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time and added to the Bill.