Sheffield church flats conversion rejected despite pleas to approve it to save building

Sheffield City Council’s planning committee meeting yesterday (July 18) heard an impassioned plea from a community activist supporting the proposals to renovate Trinity Methodist Church in Chapel Street, Woodhouse and create eight one- and two-bedroomed apartments.

They have also attracted support from residents, including a 95-name petition, and the three Woodhouse ward councillors but other neighbours have objected.

A committee report said Historic Building and Places, The Victorian Society and Historic England “raised significant concerns about the proposal relating to the loss of internal features, the level of subdivision and the replacement of windows, as well as questioning the applicant’s assertion that the parcel of land to west has not been used for burials”.

Planning officer Chris Heeley said that the changes to the interior would mean too many protected features would be lost. Proposals for parking spaces on land next to the church have been judged harmful to the building setting and would potentially endanger any buried archaeological remains.

Mr Heeley explained that because of rules protecting listed buildings, planning officers judged “there’s unjustified harm to the building and its setting that isn’t outweighed by the benefits and the lack of information that has been submitted to justify matters such as the archaeological interest”.

Anger

Suzanne Howarth, secretary of Woodhouse Improvement Association, referred to a congregation member’s decision to get “his much-loved religious bulding immortalised with a much too restrictive grade II listing”.

She added: “I cannot imagine for one second that that man would not regret his choices if he was stood here today. To see his beloved building vandalised and slowly decaying whilst trapped in a battle between owners and planning committee.”

Ms Howarth said everyone just wants the building in use again and nobody cares about the interior. She said that people in the community become more sick of the building as years pass.

“More worryingly, the anger grows – the disdain and disrespect increases. Terrifying sentences come out of people’s mouths about what they would do to solve this problem.”

Linda Holland from DLP Planning, who are involved with the scheme, also spoke in support. She said that, following two previous applications that had been turned down, the number of flats had dropped from 12 to eight, the number of bedrooms had been reduced to create open-plan living, the original ceilings would be more visible and many internal features would now be retained.

The mezzanine level has been reduced and original panelling would also be reused on the first floor, she added.

Restrictions

Coun Mike Chaplin said the problem is that it is a listed building, so there are restrictions on what the council can agree to.

Coun Peter Price said: “Clearly people want to save the building, officers want to save the building and allow residential. There’s got to be other options rather than saying no.”

Councillors accepted Coun Chaplin’s suggestion that the committee should refuse the application, as planning officers recommended, but they should tell the applicant that a resubmission within a year would cost nothing. They would like to see a more acceptable proposal coming forward with answers on issues that had not been adequately tackled.

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