THE General Synod gave first consideration to the Draft Chancel Repair (Church Commissioners’ Liability) Measure.
The Church Commissioners took on land in 1947 that carried liability for repairs to around 350 parish churches. In 2022, they incurred expenditure of around £608,000 on chancel repair. They now proposed that chancel repair liability must be detached from land that was affected by it and, as a substitute, turn into a freestanding statutory duty, whether or not the Commissioners continued to own the land. The Commissioners would then have the option to sell their land free from chancel-repair liability and its associated difficulties. The interests of PCCs would still be protected, since the Commissioners would have a unbroken statutory duty to repair the chancel of a relevant parish church.
Introducing the talk, Julie Dziegiel (Oxford) likened the complexities of liability to ingredients thrown right into a blender with the lid left off: a “splatter effect” that, she hoped, this Measure would clean up.
The laws had its origins within the feudal system, and uncertainty had hampered coping with land, she said. Some of the land potentially subject to it was owned by the Commissioners or their subsidiaries, and this Measure would make such land immediately available for housing and other miscellaneous purposes.
Third parties would still remain liable and contribute to chancel repairs. The proposal had already been approved by the Land Registry. It would also liberate time within the national church institutions, she said.
The Vicar-General of the Province of Canterbury, the Rt Worshipful Timothy Briden, described this as “a modest but essential piece of legal reform” which might ease the executive burden. Church repairs could often be planned, but there have been circumstances akin to lead-theft and storm damage which it made it imperative to undertake work more urgently. “Speed could be of the essence. This should improve procedures and will speed up the provision of funds,” he said.
Dr Chris Angus (Carlisle) approved of the Measure as one other good example of what he had observed to be a “simplification agenda” evident within the review of much laws over the past two quinquennia.
The Third Church Estates Commissioner, Canon Flora Winfield, believed that the Measure would directly profit PCCs in a way that was pastorally sensitive for all concerned: “It has been an emotive issue previously, detrimental to local relationships.”
Robin Lunn (Worcester) highlighted the complexities of chancel repair and hoped that the Measure could be one step on the solution to other streamlining of laws.
The Measure now stands referred to the revision committee.
