PLANS to build a new hall at St John the Divine, Horninglow, near Burton-on-Trent, have been opposed by residents who are angry that the proposed extension will cover part of the graveyard.
The Vicar, the Revd Michael Freeman, says the church currently has a hall which is “dilapidated, and a five-minute walk away along a busy road”. He says it is plagued by vandalism, drug dealing, and fly-tipping, and he believes that a new hall built on to the church, containing a kitchen, lavatories, and meeting rooms, would be a hub for community life.
The hall would require a car park and access road to be built over 284 graves in the church’s graveyard, but the use of pile-driven foundations would mean that no bodies would be disturbed and none would need to be exhumed.
Mr Freeman said that they had consulted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the extension would not disturb the 17 war graves in the cemetery. But opponents to the scheme, including members of the Burton Royal British Legion branch, have formed a campaign, and last week held a march to protest at the plans.
Mr Freeman said the campaign was “a bit premature”, as they have not yet received planning permission for the new hall, and also need to gain a faculty from the diocese of Lichfield.
“There will be adequate opportunities for people to raise objections in the later stage of the process,” he said. “I accept and understand that people do have serious misgivings about construction where people are buried. There has been far more interest show in the graveyard since the plans were put forward than was ever shown in the past.”
Mr Freeman made an unsuccessful attempt to meet the campaigners, and wrote to arrange a meeting, but did not hear back from them.
A spokesman for the diocese of Lichfield said the proposals were still under consideration by the Diocesan Advisory Committee, and would in due course be forwarded to the Diocesan Chancellor and consistory court to make a decision on granting a faculty.