Battle Lost to Save Heritage Church
KENT BARKER
Campaigners fighting to prevent St Anne’s Mission Church in Hollington from demolition appear finally to have been defeated. In overturning Hastings Borough Council’s refusal to grant planning permission for five market houses last month, the planning inspector said: “While the loss of the church is regrettable, I have not been provided with sufficient evidence to justify its retention.”
The inspector also cited a ‘Prior Approval for Demolition’ from the council under ‘permitted development rights’, meaning the principle of demolition itself was allowed, even if the housing plans were rejected by the council – as they had been.
Extraordinarily, the demolition decision was taken under ‘delegated powers’ by council officers and not by the Planning Committee made up of elected members. And it was made just two weeks after councillors had turned down the planning application for five houses, citing harm to the character and appearance of the area, the loss of a community facility and the loss of a building of local architectural and communal importance.
St Anne’s is unique. According to the Burtons’ St Leonards Society, it is “an elegant brick-and-flint building of the 1950s, designed by Brighton architects J L Denman and Son”. The flints used in its construction were salvaged from All Saints Church in Brighton. Denman was a vice-president of RIBA and was involved in the restoration of Canterbury Cathedral from war damage, and a founder of Brighton’s Regency Society.
The church’s windows are by Marjorie Incledon (1891-1973), also a painter, who worked in Sussex and was a cousin of JRR Tolkien. St Anne’s is included in Nicholas Pevesner’s respected architectural guide, Buildings of England as being “brick and flint in the Arts and Crafts tradition” with a pyramid roof on the tower and an interior with “pointed tunnel vault”.
According to campaigners, the council failed to take a number of measures which could have saved the building. The Inspector said an emergency ‘Article 4 Direction’ to remove permitted development rights “was not applied for by HBC”. He also noted that the council’s Conservation Officer was consulted but made no objection to demolition. Also there was “no evidence” that the council had considered the church as a Non Designated Heritage Asset (NDHA) and thus worthy of local listing.
An HBC spokesperson said officers had no option but to approve the demolition. “The decision was considered under a prior approval application which only allowed consideration of the method of demolition. As the building is not listed either locally or nationally, the question of the demolition had limited weight in subsequent applications, especially against the weight of the proposal to create new dwellings, which takes highest priority in situations such as Hastings where we cannot show a five-year housing land supply.”
Local environmental campaigner Chris Hurrell objected to the original planning application, saying said the demolition of the church would “replace a heritage asset with an anodyne poorly-designed row of small housing units whose bulk and massing is too large for the location and which do not provide sufficient parking spaces. They are an inappropriate replacement for the existing building. Insufficient consideration has been given to modifying the church building for residential use.”
Other objectors to demolition include the 20th Century Society, the Council for British Archaeology (CBA), and Historic Buildings & Places (HB&P, formerly the Ancient Monuments Society).
Hastings Local History Group secretary Heather Grief says far too much of the borough’s heritage has been lost already. “It’s a disgrace that HBC has made no effort to save this lovely and unique little church. Hastings has a long history of destroying its iconic buildings: the Albert Memorial (1973), Bohemia Mansion (1972), going back to St Leonards Boundary Arch (1895), the usual excuses being that they’re ‘in the way’ or ‘in poor condition’. Listed buildings are in danger too: the Regency St Mary-in-the-Castle and its shopping arcade, and the 1830s ‘Roman’ Bath in Summerfields Woods, both owned by HBC which is legally obliged to look after them. The cost of doing so will only rise the longer they’re left.”
St Anne’s Church was on the market for £250,000 when the current owner Edward Lofts bought it in 2021. He has been using it as a commercial gym but says it is not big enough for his needs and hopes to raise enough from the redevelopment for new premises. He says the long-drawn out planning process has cost him £80,000 (see article below).
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