CAMPAIGNERS last night refused to be defeated after a religious court ruled that a “landmark” Victorian church and spire can be demolished.
Liverpool Diocese said the Consistory Court’s decision to allow demolition of St John the Divine church, in Fairfield, was correct because the spire is in real danger of collapse.
The Merseyside Civic Society had hoped that the special court, convened because of lobbying to save the spire, would find in its favour.
Last night, Jonathan Brown of the society said the decision “smacked of hypocrisy”, given Bishop of Liverpool James Jones’s role as chairman of the Stop the Rot campaign to save derelict buildings.
He hit out at the church’s “lack of flexibility” over the issue and said the diocese wanted to realise a profit from the sale of a fully-cleared site.
The council’s historic environment champion, Cllr Berni Turner, said the now likely demolition of the church and spire was appalling.
The diocese has always insisted there were structural problems with the spire.
As the building does not meet listing requirements, the church was unable to get money from English Heritage.
The cost of repairing the spire was estimated to be around £150,000, while demolishing the entire church would cost £50,000 and was all the church could afford, the diocese said.
Last night, Archdeacon of Liverpool, Ricky Panter, said: “As a diocese we regularly work with other public bodies to maintain and secure our built heritage.
“It now lies with the diocese and the church council to secure the building as quickly and safely as possible so it no longer poses a risk to those in the local community.”
The church was built by Victorian architect W Raffles Brown and has been a landmark since it was consecrated in the 1850s.
Mr Brown said: “It is disappointing to see this happening on the bishop’s watch when he has set himself up as a champion of the city’s historic buildings.”
