The petitioners sought a faculty to install a Bevington pipe organ in the chancel to replace an electronic organ which was reaching the end of its useful life. The Bevington organ had been offered to the Grade I listed Church for nothing. The church had a strong tradition of fine church music which was at the heart of its mission to the community. The hope was that replacing the electronic organ for only the costs of removal would free the money saved to be spent on the longer-term plan of restoring the original Willis organ.

The petition was supported by a majority of the parochial church council. Objections were raised by the diocesan advisory committee, English Heritage, the Victorian Society and the local planning authority. Each body argued that the pipe organ was a bulky piece of furniture which would be out of scale with the fine chancel and would damage the historic and architectural integrity of the church.

In refusing the faculty, the chancellor held that the harmful impact on the aesthetic integrity of the chancel had not been shown to be outweighed or justified by the public or missional benefits of the organ. This was despite the fact that the refusal of the faculty would mean difficulties in sustaining the church's musical work. [Catherine Shelley]