The petitioners sought a faculty for various works within this Grade I listed church of Anglo-Saxon origin. Most were uncontroversial. The petitioners also wished to remove pew frontals in the north and south aisles, in order to improve access for wheelchair and pushchair users, and to extend the areas where special events could be held. The Victorian Society commented that the benches as a whole were a very good set, and to reduce them at all would be regrettable. Nonetheless, the only proposal objected to was the removal of the pew frontals, indicating that they should be retained and not disposed of. Historic England (HE) also noted the quality of the woodwork, and asked that consideration be given to adapting some of the existing seating instead. However, the court inferred from the tone and content of HE's representations that it considered that the threshold test of harm to the significance of the church had been met. The Church Buildings Council was content to defer to the Diocesan Advisory Committee, on the basis that the proposals would not do significant harm to the character of the church.

The court was satisfied that the proposals would not harm the significance of the church in the Duffield sense. Were it wrong about that, it would still find that the harm was minor and significantly outweighed by the benefits in terms of access and liturgical freedom; it would give particular weight to the issue of accessibility and accommodating the elderly, infirm and disabled, particularly wheelchair users. A faculty would be issued. The court required that further consideration be given to the long-term retention of the pew frontals, and that no works were to commence until the court had given directions as to the retention in storage of such of the pew frontals as were not legitimately required for re-use elsewhere in the church. [DW]