HISTORIC VICTORY
FOR CAMPAIGNERS
Council unanimously rejects beauty spa plan for St Marks
Lady Sainsbury (centre in brown) with Lord Taylor, Julie Anderson
and campaigners after the vote
Westminster City Planning Applications Sub-Committee tonight threw out the Diocese of London’s plans to allow Grade 1 listed St Mark’s Church, North Audley Street to become a ‘wellness centre’.
The unanimous decision of four councillors, including Planning Chairman Robert Davis to reject the unpopular proposals produced a huge roar from protesters who packed Committee Room 6 wearing red baseball caps, proclaiming ‘Save St Mark’s’. Many had to be accommodated in an overflow room.
George Hammer of Hammer Holdings who was there with his legal team and London Diocesan Property Director Michael Bye, announced immediately afterwards that he plans to appeal. ‘I am a Christian’ said the English-born son of Polish immigrants ‘and I want to provide facilities for cancer patients. This was not God’s decision.’
God may have other views after hearing Hammer’s lawyer. ‘I’m going to get some blue caps printed saying ‘Stuff St Marks’ he told those in the lift with him – who happened to include St Mark’s Pastor, Rod Anderson, his wife Julie and Lord Taylor of Warwick.
The London Diocesan Fund Finance Committee who sold the church to Hammer subject to planning consent, throwing out a thriving congregation, meets to discuss the stunning outcome on 22 January. Jubilant campaigners plan to fight on to get a congregation back in the now illegally fenced off church before further deterioration sets in over the winter. The Diocese erected the fence without planning permission or listed building consent.
Holy Trinity Church Brompton Road (known as HTB) who have made an offer to restore the Grade 1 listed church will now put detailed proposals on the table. Lord Taylor, a friend of the Andersons and member of HTB, said: ‘Good has triumphed over greed. The Diocese would be foolish to ignore the strength of feeling here tonight.’
The chairman said there had been 1,000 objections to the plan, and only one submission in favour. He said he had been impressed by the strength of local support for the church, which was a ‘place of great beauty’. He said he was not convinced by the applicant’s argument that a private wellness centre would benefit the whole community. They would have to pay to use a facility they could otherwise access for free.
Campaign spokesman Lady Sainsbury said: ‘This is a huge embarrassment for the Diocese, who must now recognize that selling their assets is not the answer to their financial troubles.’