The petitioners wished to replace the existing heating system in an unlisted twentieth-century church. In considering the specification for a new boiler the Parochial Church Council (PCC) had considered the impact of their heating system on the environment and the implications for their carbon footprint. The proposed new boiler would be significantly more effective and efficient than the existing system. However, it would use gas and would not therefore be carbon-neutral. The PCC considered alternative systems but there was nothing carbon-neutral that was affordable or suitable for their building, although the proposed boiler could be replaced with new, carbon-neutral technology as and when it may be developed.

The court considered the proposals in the light of the General Synod motion of February 2020, requiring parishes to aim for net-zero emissions by 2030. It also referred to its own decision in Re St Michael and All Angels, Blackheath Park [2020] ECC Swk 1, (2020) 22 Ecc LJ 387 to the effect that, so long as petitioners had considered the implications of a proposal for the carbon-neutral agenda, it was generally not appropriate for the court to substitute its own judgment of the matter. Although the proposed new boiler would not be carbon-neutral it would be more efficient than the current boiler. The PCC had actively considered their carbon footprint, would keep the situation under review and were open to the possibility of change should the technology be developed. Accordingly, the court granted the faculty. [Catherine Shelley]