The incumbent and churchwardens sought a faculty permitting the temporary installation of a Snowdog statue in the churchyard as part of the borough council's nine-week Snowdog art trail. The Diocesan Advisory Committee recommended the works. Mr C, a neighbour, objected to the petition on aesthetic grounds, arguing that the statue was incongruous in the setting of a Grade I listed churchyard. The petitioners argued that any harm caused to the significance of the building by the temporary installation was far outweighed by the public benefit of the scheme by allowing the church to share its space with the local community. The petitioners had been refused an interim confirmatory faculty for the installation which they had sought when Mr C had complained to the Registry about the arrival of the statue. Upon refusal of the interim faculty the statue had been removed from the churchyard.

By the time the faculty was granted, only ten days of the art trail project remained. The Commissary General granted a time-limited faculty permitting the return of the statue for the remaining ten days. Although the bright and shiny Snowdog was incongruous, and to that extent harmful, it was intended to excite surprise and comment. The benefits of engaging with this community project outweighed such transitory harm as was caused. [RA]