A LOCAL resident has complained about the development of Westbury Leigh Baptist Church saying the developer is showing ‘complete disregard’ for the historical building.
Wiltshire councillor, Gordon King also claims that relatives of those buried at the site have been denied access, which is ‘fuelling accusations of disrespect and disregard of the building, its grounds and affected families.’
Rachel Stroud of Westbury said, “I went past the Westbury Leigh Chapel and they are making a complete mess of this historic building – the two gate piers (which have separate listed status from the church) have been removed and probably destroyed, a memorial stone on the front of the building has been removed, gravestones to the right of the main body of the church have been removed and others have been damaged by the workmen and machinery, galleries inside the main church have been removed (despite the original plans saying they would be protected) and some of the stained glass windows have been removed.
“On top of this the developer wants to destroy the historical outline of this building by converting the main part of the church into four two-bed apartments instead of a house. This developer is showing complete disregard for the historical building and the fact that it is grade 11 listed.
“I contacted the council to voice my concern over the gate piers removal and that the gravestones have been taken away and they said that they have been to investigate – I’m calling this into question as I don’t think the council are keeping an eye as to what the developer is getting up to – if the council are aware, they are clearly turning a blind eye to it.
“The original plans were for the church is be turned into two apartments at the rear of the building – used to be the schoolroom – and a three bed house in the main part of the building with the galleries left intact. No mention anywhere of gravestones being removed or the listed gate piers – the council claim to have looked into this but that is debatable.
“The developer has now put in an application to change the three-bed house into 4 two-bed apartments – which will destroy the historical side of the building and create further parking problems in any area that has limited parking.”
Wiltshire councillor for Westbury, Gordon King said, “Every now and again an application for the adaptation of an historic listed building comes along and those who know and appreciate the history, its sense of place and majesty quite rightly expect that any development or restoration should be sympathetic and tasteful. It should be in honour of it, rather than despite its history and listing.
“Every owner of property must have the right to make the most of that building or plot of land they can. However, there is a growing feeling amongst those who know that this development /restoration has gone far beyond any or all of those requirements, which is unacceptable.
“This is why I called this plan in for determination by the Western Area Planning Committee so that a public debate can occur. Relatives of those buried in the open cemetery have told me that they have been denied access and that important anniversaries have been missed, which is totally unacceptable, fuelling accusations of disrespect and disregard of the building, its grounds and affected families.
“The site is busy and like most building sites it is a scene of devastation which by itself may not mean anything. I know that the planning enforcement team have visited, to check that the plan is being delivered in accordance with the conditions imposed to protect those parts of this building that make it of such local, regional and national importance, worthy of protection and Natural England have shown interest.
“The management of this site during construction is the same as in the case of the delivery of any planning application; the applicant, agent, project manager and contractor in partnership with building control, which may be a commercial rather than local authority operation.
“I believe that notwithstanding any of the above, the new plan goes way too far and that if approved, it would be detrimental to the integrity of the building, its listing and its place in the history of Westbury Leigh. The car parking plan in the front will by itself take much from the integrity of the listed building; it may present a hazard to other users of the highway.
“I am also surprised that no application for listed building consent appears to have been lodged. As it stands, this application is not worthy of approval and the applicant or their agent have a big job to convince me otherwise.”
The developers and Wiltshire Council were approached for comment.
