Friends of Christ Church Longcross have learned, to their dismay, that
the beautiful Stained Glass windows of Christ Church Longcross are being CUT UP, with glasswork REMOVED, and fitted within WHITE uPVC frames - destroying the heritage of this lovely Grade II listed building.
The Stained Glass windows will NOT be presented WHOLE, in their original format.
It is very hard to believe that this was the meaning of a protection under Grade II Listing and that other solutions were not available?
We argued back in 2019 that the conversion of the church into FIVE flats was OVERDEVELOPMENT and would harm the character of the building.
The planning decision sadly went 8 to 6 for the development - no doubt because the developer, in his representations to the Church Commissioners and the Planning Authority, painted a very rosy but misleading picture.
Gary Humphreys, the developer, wrote in his submission to the Church Commissioners that:
- his conversion would be "sympathetic" to the Grade II listing
- "the church will be fully restored to its original condition"
- "the only external changes that can be seen is the new car park, communal area and the addition of the roof lighting to meet natural light requirements with building regulations"
Was this all false promises and claims to sweeten the favour of local residents, the Diocese of Guildford and the Church Commissioners?
In addition to the above written representations, Mr. Humphreys also claimed that:
"my last conversion of of a grade 2 listed building [...] was recognised by Surrey County Council & Guildford Borough Council and became short-listed for the best design of a historic building in Surrey."
NO supporting links or evidence was provided for this claim - a search of the internet in 2019 found no such design competition or short-listing. We would challenge Mr. Humphreys to provide evidence that his development of a Grade II listed wooden Tennis Pavillion did indeed get shortlisted for ANY awards.
Mr. Humphreys also wrote:
"I am hopeful that once the Church has been redeveloped I will win the competition that year with Christ Church."
This seems highly unlikely and doubtful given the desecration of the Grade II Listed Stained Glass windows and other non-sympathetic changes:
- CUTTING up the original stained glass windows and placing them in white uPVC frames, not presented WHOLE and with only selected areas retained **
- complete removal of original slate roof tiles and replaced with new
- white uPVC door replacing the original beautifully carved Vestry Door***
- white uPVC window frames for the entire building - including dormer windows
- white uPVC siding on roof dormers
- 4 inch boiler and other vents marring the walls of the building ****
- shipping container to remain as bicycle storage running the historic curtilage of the building
What are we to make of this utter failure to protect what once was a lovely Grade II listed building now spoiled by a developer's aims to maximize profit (five flats) with the cheapest build methods possible?
And what of the planning permission granted do you ask?
In the plans submitted to the planning authority the windows are presented as WHOLE - with narrow horizontal bars between floor levels - we will certainly be challenging how the current development meets these drawings - which are named in the Decision Notice.
There is also a condition in the notice that:
"samples of the materials to be used in the external elevations shall be submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority and no variations in such materials when approved shall be made without the prior approval"
We have reached out to The Victorian Society and the British Society of Master Glass Painters for support as well as making enquiries to the Runnymede Planning department.
This, in addition to the developer not honoring his promise to secure the future maintenance of the graveyard, makes the whole thing a travesty.
* Photo of one of the original full length stained glass windows - courtesy of Alan Bostock - you can see a range of photos of the church before development here: http://www.photoeyes.biz/church/longcross.htm
** Historic England in their guidance state "plastic (PVC-u) windows are unsuitable" for Grade II listed buildings
*** We are told by the Runnymede Planning department that the original Vestry door is under repair by a specialist firm - however that was over a year ago. No sign of it returning yet - we would be happy to see its return!
**** in the Officer Report for the planning application, when covering ventilation requirements, it states that "Ridge tile ventilation would also be used which would match the existing slate tiles and be hidden by the parapet"