Friends of Christ Church Longcross (FCCL) are very pleased to announce the support of Cllr Jonathan Hulley in joining our campaign.
Cllr Jonathan Hulley is both a Runnymede Borough Councillor as well as the Surrey County Councillor for the ward Christ Church Longcross sits in. He has previously in his role as Surrey County Councillor assisted with highway issues on Longcross road helping to make it safer. He also assisted in the stopping of construction and removal of an unauthorised Utility apparatus built by the church developer on Surrey County land.
With the reorganisation of local government in Surrey, Christ Church Longcross will sit in the new unitary “West Surrey” in the ward of “Foxhills, Thorpe and Virginia Water”. Cllr Jonathan Hulley is running as a candidate for this ward in the West Surrey elections which will take place in May. Theresa Burton, founder of FCCL, is very pleased to endorse his campaign and comments:
“I very much welcome Cllr Hulley’s support for this heritage campaign, which has not just local ramifications, but is an important case in the national heritage sector. The Victorian Society, a national heritage body, has called the case “shocking”. The ramifications of a council allowing such heritage harms to go unchallenged and without remedy would be a significant failure in their statutory role as the front-line protectors for listed buildings and set a precedence which could ripple across the country.”
Cllr Jonathan Hulley writes in his statement of support:
“I would like to add my voice in support of the campaign by the Friends of Christ Church Longcross to rectify the significant heritage harms at this former church which has been unsympathetically converted into five flats.
This is a Grade II listed building. The church and its surrounding features—including the Grade II listed Lychgate, historic churchyard wall, and multiple graves—form a site of significant heritage value. The location lies within the Green Belt and within 5km of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.
In my opinion, the development of this building, including the unsympathetic repairs of the vestry door, the insertion of smoke vents, the installation of a distinctly domestic rooflight detracting from the architectural interest, and the removal of over 50% of the stained-glass and 100% of the remaining historic leaded-light and grisaille glass, all framed in non-traditional uPVC, have severely affected the building's character and should never have been allowed to happen.
Following a Judicial Review challenge by the Friends of Christ Church Longcross, I am pleased that Runnymede Borough Council agreed to redetermine the case and I am pleased that the developer was given no more than four months to work with the Council and the Council’s independent Heritage Advisor to prepare and submit a listed building consent application. However more than 4 months have now passed with no application submitted.
I add my voice calling on the developer to submit that application and if necessary for the Council to hold this developer to account for his failure to comply and for causing significant heritage harm to Christ Church Longcross.”
Press Inquiries please contact:
Theresa Burton, Founder Friends of Christ Church Longcross, fochristchurchlongcross@gmail.com
Cllr Jonathan Hulley, Surrey County Councillor and West Surrey Candidate for Foxhills, Thorpe & Virginia Water, jonathan.hulley@surreycc.gov.uk