The petition proposed extensive reordering of the church and the creation of a link between the church and the church centre. The controversial item was a proposal to place a curtain wall behind the three arches at the front of the nave and to create within the then enclosed chancel (designed by the well-known church architect George Pace) a meeting room, an office and storage area on three floor levels. The Chancellor considered that the proposal would harm the special character of the building and that the petitioners should consider alternatively ways of finding the meeting, office and storage space they required. The Chancellor therefore granted a faculty which excluded the proposals for the chancel.

This judgment deals with the third stage of an extensive series of works of reordering of the church, the earlier stages having been dealt with in two previous judgments. (See Re Christ Church Fulwood [2017] ECC She 6 and Re Christ Church Fulwood [2018] ECC She 4) The Chancellor granted a faculty.

The petitioners sought permission to replace a gas fired cabinet heater in the church with a new condensing gas heater. The Parochial Church Council had looked carefully at the alternative options. Heat pumps were not viable. It would be a possible alternative to install electric heaters, but these would be very expensive to install, less energy efficient, unsightly and expensive to run. The Diocesan Advisory Committee had certified that the petitioners have considered the Church of England’s net zero guidance, and they recommended the proposals. The Chancellor granted a faculty, without imposing a condition regarding carbon offsetting.

In 2020 the unlisted Victorian church had secured Strategic Development Funding for renovation works which were intended to encourage growth in weekly attendance and mission, and a new worshiping community had been planted at the church. Works were proposed  with a view to providing a more flexible space for worship and community use, including: lighting and heating works; carpet tiles in the nave; replacement of most of the pews with tubular steel upholstered stacking chairs; redecoration; audio-visuals; and a welcome desk and servery. The Victorian Society objected to carpet tiles and felt that the existing linoleum should be removed to reveal the original tiles, but the advice to the petitioners was that the linoleum may contain asbestos, so it would be safer to leave it and put the carpet tiles on top. The Society also objected to the proposed chairs.  The Chancellor was satisfied that the proposed works were necessary for the church to achieve its aims and he granted a faculty.

The reordering proposals included: removal and disposal of the nave pews, the removal of a balcony structure, the disposal of an electric valve organ, the levelling of the floors by removing the pew platforms, the relocation of the pulpit, the construction of a ramp to the dais, the introduction of a new boiler and underfloor heating system, a new lighting system and a new audio-visual system, the replacement of fibreglass windows with clear glass leaded windows, the provision of a crèche area and a storage area, alterations to the ‘font doors’, new flooring, chairs and tables and complete redecoration. The Victorian Society objected to the removal of the pews and their replacement with upholstered chairs. However, the Deputy Chancellor granted a faculty, being satisfied that the petitioners had made a good case for the proposals and that the resulting public benefit would greatly outweigh any harm caused to the significance of the church as a whole.

The Chancellor granted a faculty to authorise the removal of a number of pews from the front of the nave of the unlisted church building, in order to allow greater flexibility of use of the church, subject to the condition that the pews should be stored in a part of the church, with liberty to apply for them to be removed permanently, if the experiment proved successful.

The Team Rector and churchwardens sought a confirmatory faculty for the retention of a nave altar, which had been in use since a reordering of the interior of the church in 2013/2014. The nave altar had been made from the wood of the choir stalls, which had been removed as part of the reordering. The Diocesan Advisory Committee objected to the retention of the altar on the grounds that it was too low (it originally had castors, which had been removed), and the surface area was too small. The Vicar General was satisfied that the surface of the altar was adequate, and he granted a confirmatory faculty subject to conditions that blocks should be placed under the legs of the altar, to raise the altar to a more appropriate height, and that the altar should at all times be covered by a Laudian fall.

The Chancellor considered two faculty petitions, the object of both being to allow the church to be used as a visitor centre as part of a heritage trail linking various historic sites in the village. The first petition related to the installation of a digital display board, to be installed on the north wall of the nave, and to be used for notices, for showing films about the history of village and as an aid to worship on appropriate occasions. The second application sought permission to install two secure moveable cabinets in the south west corner of the church and two moveable desks at the rear of the church, the cabinets to be used to store merchandise for supplies and sales to visitors, one of the desks is to be used to display information for visitors and the other to enable Manx craftspeople to sell their merchandise. The Chancellor granted two faculties.

Faculty granted for the felling of two trees which were causing damage to a nearby house.

In the special and distressing circumstances of this case, the Chancellor granted a faculty for exhumation and reinterment in the same churchyard. The funeral directors and the gravedigger had failed to comply with the family's request for a grave to be dug sufficiently deep to accommodate not only the remains of the deceased, but also the remains of other members of the family in due time.