The cost of the scheme is estimated to be £885,000 without legal or professional building services fees being taken into account. St Ouen Constable Michael Paddock says the administration has been informed by the Rector, the Rev Ian Pallent, that the contribution from parish funds would probably need to be around £230,000.
A parishioner who did not want to be named described the plans as the most radical ever proposed for one of the Island’s ancient churches.
In addition to converting the side chapel into meeting rooms, removing the pews and building toilets in the entrance porch, the congregation wants to reverse the ages-old Christian tradition of facing east during acts of worship. The plans also propose remodelling the existing choir stalls around the high altar to create a traditional chapel with pews.
Mr Paddock said: ‘The money that the rector and the churchwardens are currently asking for from the parish is £230,000, and if parishioners agree, it will affect the parish rate.’
Mr Paddock added that the parish was currently working on figures to show ratepayers how much the work could cost them. These will be presented at an ecclesiastical parish assembly, which, in a break with tradition, is to be held in the church and not the parish hall, on Wednesday 21 March starting at 7.30 pm.
Mr Pallent could not be contacted for comment. However, he has invited the media to the church on Tuesday morning for a briefing on the proposals.
Earlier this week a colour leaflet detailing the redesign of the church was delivered to all homes and businesses in St Ouen. In it Mr Pallent writes: ‘This leaflet outlines our vision to redesign the interior of your parish church to be accessible for all at the heart of the parish; provide space for all under one roof; and to both cherish the past, [and] embrace the future.’
Mr Paddock said that as with all the parish churches, the municipality was obliged to pay for certain aspects of its upkeep, such as keeping the structure ‘wind and water tight’.
There are fears that the project will divide the parish and split families in the same way that was seen recently in St Lawrence over a controversial extension to house toilets and a kitchen. The matter was finally resolved last month, when hundreds of parishioners voted at a packed parish assembly that the work should go ahead.
The church is proposing to raise the rest of the £885,000 from its reserves, legacies and fundraising among the congregation.
If parishioners agree to provide parish funds on 21 March, the decision will have to be approved by the Church of England’s Ecclesiastical Court in Jersey and ratified, again by parishioners, at the parish rates assembly to be held in July.
The proposals will also require Planning’s approval.
