The hearing concerned a re-opened faculty petition for the installation of wireless broadband equipment in the tower of St Peter and St Paul, Barnham Broom, a Grade I listed building. There had been inadequate public notice of the petition prior to grant of the original faculty. The external notice, which should have been displayed where it was readily visible to the public, had been displayed in a porch that had been closed for part of the notice period. Although no objections were received during that original notice period, once the notice was re-displayed properly eight objectors came forward. Objections were raised about lack of publicity, health risks from wifi masts and harm to pastoral relationships if the work were to proceed.

It was accepted that the initial notice was not properly displayed but that the further display of the notice, a public meeting and the re-opening of the petition remedied the situation. As regards any risks to health it was noted that there had been recent proceedings within the diocese (Re All Saints, Postwick (September 2011)) in which, after a contested hearing in open court, Chancellor Downes had concluded that there was no compelling evidence of a real risk to health from broadband masts. The petitioners relied upon a Health Protection Agency report which post-dated the Postwick decision. The chancellor found that that report was entirely consistent with the conclusions of Chancellor Downes and noted that two of the authors of the report had been expert witnesses whose evidence had been accepted by Chancellor Downes in the Postwick case. While not being bound by that decision, the chancellor acknowledged that, given that Chancellor Downes had had the benefit of hearing the evidence of prominent experts which was tested in open court, it was unlikely that she would reach a contrary conclusion on those issues without the production of significant additional evidence. The objection that the work would damage pastoral relationships between church and community was also dismissed. Only 12 people had attended the public meeting, not all of whom had objected to the proposed works, and the objectors represented 4 out of a parish of some 220 households. The faculty was granted. [Catherine Shelley]