CHURCHES could soon be granting leases to Starbucks and other commercial
enterprises under legislation to be passed by General Synod this month. The
rent would be used to boost parish funds.
Synod will be asked to give permission to PCCs to lease part of the church
while keeping the building open for worship. Until now, the only way of
granting a lease was to make part of the church redundant.
One reason for the new rules is that grant-making bodies have been reluctant
to give a grant to an organisation that does not have a leasehold stake in the
building, a spokeswoman from Church House said.
"It is designed to enable those churches who are trying to reach out to the
wider community to do that, and to raise money for increased viability. It is
consistent with the report Building Faith in our Future," she said.
The leasehold proposal had been taken from the Toyne report on diocesan
structures, and was fast-tracked because of the Synod's support.
Leasholds would be granted under existing faculty restrictions, and the new
arrangements were intended to help the church provide "things of general good,
community facilities", said the head of the Cathedral and Church Buildings
Division, Paula Griffiths.
There would be "reasonable flexibility" in the guidelines for the new
arrangements to cover the extending of leasehold agreements to commercial
companies such as coffee franchises. These would emerge once the legislation
had been passed, she said.
The Synod will be asked to agree the new rules as an amendment of section 56
of the Pastoral Measure 1983. If passed, it still has to be deemed "expedient"
by the Ecclesiastical committee of Parliament.
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