St Barnabas Church
Alpha Planning was asked to prepare a report on behalf of the PCC in order to demonstrate that the building was not of such special architectural or historic interest that it was worthy of listing.
Effectively our report, which was shared with the Diocesan Advisory Committee and Chancellor, was the equivalent to one that would be prepared for a non-ecclesiastical building in order for a certificate from the Secretary of State to be issued stating that the building would not be listed (Section 6 of the Planning [Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas] Act 1990). This process was successful which paved the way for the subsequent relocation of the church.
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Built in 1914
St Barnabas church was one of the outer London churches designed by the renowned church architect JS Alder at the beginning of the 20th century.
JS Alder had a vision for providing C of E churches near to the new stations on the underground, to serve a community that would then become established around them.
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New Premises
About 100 years later, the congregation had outgrown the building. The vicar had a vision for a redevelopment, that would provide a new multi-purpose building, with an auditorium to seat a larger congregation, and social housing on the site to meet the specific needs of some in the community that the church was serving.
For for this to come about, it would be necessary to demolish the church which was, at that time, a building of townscape merit (i.e. on the Council’s local list of historic buildings).
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Redundant Building
In order to be demolished and redeveloped, an ecclesiastical building has to be declared redundant by the Church of England, even if it is not listed.
Our report identified a significant number of churches designed by JS Alder in the North London area that are listed, and that we considered to be of greater architectural interest than St Barnabas.
