The petitioner sought permission to add kerbstones and stone chippings to his mother's grave in order that it should remain tidy with minimal maintenance. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) opposed the proposal as it contravened the churchyard regulations and their churchyard policy, but subsequently decided not to object on a mistaken understanding that the chancellor was minded to grant the petition. The chancellor was not so minded and therefore took into account the PCC's initial objection.

Applying Re St Andrew Sutton (2010) 12 Ecc LJ 404 and Re Holy Trinity Eccleshall (2014) 16 Ecc LJ 121, the chancellor held that there was no sufficiently powerful reason to make an exception to the churchyard regulations. The regulations were designed to protect a churchyard and to enable its maintenance for the benefit of the community in the long term, a context which took precedence over the wishes of particular families. The limited number of other sets of kerbstones in the churchyard provided insufficient reason to make it unjust to refuse kerbstones in this case. Nor was the petitioner's disability and ill-health a sufficient reason not to apply the rules. The petition was refused. [Catherine Shelley]