Vicar praises plan to rev-up church

A VICAR has refuted claims that Oldham Parish Church is not backing a grand scheme to spruce-up its grounds.

The Rev Derek Palmer said he had been thrilled to hear about the £30,000 plans but had assumed Oldham Council would have applied for the necessary licence to carry out the work.

When any work is to be carried out on Church of England grounds and buildings, a “faculty jurisdiction measure” has to be applied for, which is equivalent to planning permission.

Mr Palmer says the diocese is still waiting for the faculty application and that the licence has not yet been refused, as was claimed at a meeting of Oldham Town Centre Partnership last week.

A row also broke out when it was claimed that bureaucrats who wanted to halt the scheme had requested that battered old bins, taken away to be replaced, be put back where they were.

Rev Palmer said: “A letter was sent to the council saying if they didn’t apply for the faculty, we may have to keep things the way they are. That is all — no one has told anyone to put battered old bins back. We are more than willing to meet up with the council so that we have all the relevant information together. We are prepared to do all the necessary paperwork and even pay the fee — anything it takes to process the faculty. If the grounds were cleaned up, the church would be a much more usable facility — and that is what we want — to open the church up to the community.

“We want to work with the council to find a solution, and we believe we can.”

Councillor Jackie Stanton said she was not aware the licence had not been refused or that a faculty had not been submitted.

“We have this cash to spend — and we must spend it on open green space in the town centre — and we thought the church would benefit,” she said. “Time is running out for this money to be spent. It is vitally important we pick up on Mike Flanagan’s (Spindles boss) suggestion and get everyone round the table to resolve this to everyone’s advantage as soon as possible.”