A Chesham Bois church that called people ‘the enemy’ has appealed the refusal of planning permission for a new church hall.

St Leonard’s Parochial Church Council’s application for permission for its project was refused by a Buckinghamshire Council planning committee in January of this year.

The church wanted to demolish the church hall on Glebe Way and replace it with a new ‘multifunctional parish centre’ with a cafe, day nursery building, replacement rectory outbuildings for prayer and other facilities.

But planning officers said the application site was within the 12.6km zone of influence of impact for the Chiltern Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Some development within this zone is banned to protect beech forests, grasslands, stag beetles and other forms of nature.

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In its appeal, the church council mentioned the perceived impact on the SAC and that it had decided to ‘remove the additional residential unit (Keeper’s Cottage) from the application’.

It added: “Given the application would not result in a net increase of dwellings the impact upon the Chiltern Beechwoods SAC should not be a consideration.”

The applicant said it has reviewed the SAC legislation and ‘given it stated that it was relevant only to additional residential units, it was decided to remove the dwelling (keepers cottage) from the proposal and resubmit’.

It added: “This is the sole difference from the previously considered application, everything else remains the same.”

The proposals for the new church hall attracted dozens of letters of support, including from people who said that the existing church hall was ‘poor quality’ and that its replacement was overdue.

However, more than 250 people objected to the plans, including councillor David King who claimed that the scale of the plans were inappropriate for the village.

He said at the time: “It is proposed to be in the centre of a conservation area, that is right in the heart of the village.

“It is not designed for locals, it is for people from outside, it is designed as a regional conference centre.”

In response to the objections to the plans, Wendy Clow, the wife of the Rector of St Leonard’s Church, Laurie Clow, gave a strongly worded sermon in August last year.

Her comments included that people were ‘perpetuating lies’ about the church and that there was a battle with ‘the enemy’ taking place.

Following backlash to the remarks, the church said: “It is common to preach messages based on the rich imagery we find in the Bible, in particular the New Testament, which often includes spiritual warfare and battle metaphors.”

The reference for the appeal is APP/X0415/W/24/3343635 and anyone want to make representations must send them to the Planning Inspectorate by July 30, 2024.

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