§ Lord Gisboroughasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to review the ecclesiastical exemption from listed buildings and conservation area controls.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage (Lord Inglewood)In implementing proposals to restrict the ecclesiastical exemption in 1994, the Government undertook that the new arrangements would be formally reviewed after two years.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales have invited Mr. John Newman, Reader in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London and a former Chairman of English Heritage's Churches Advisory Committee, to conduct the review. His terms of reference will be:
To review the operation of the Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Order 1994, in particular to establish whether there is, within each of the six denominations whose buildings retain the ecclesiastical exemption under the terms of the order, a formal control procedure for proposed works to listed churches and unlisted churches in conservation areas which provides protection for such buildings comparable with what would otherwise apply under secular controls.
121WAMr. Newman will start in May and aims to submit a report by September. He will be consulting the six exempt denominations, the principal heritage organisations in England and Wales and representatives of local authorities. He would also welcome comments from other interested bodies and individuals. These may be sent to him c/o Buildings, Monuments and Sites Division, Department of National Heritage, 2–4 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y.