Major Update: More Heritage Support as New Planning Rules Strengthen the Fight for Reuse
❤️ A QUICK THANK YOU TO OUR NEW SUPPORTERS
Before the latest campaign update, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has recently added their name to the petition. At the time of writing this update, we have now reached 1,311 signatures, and every single one represents another person saying that the future of Cleveleys United Reformed Church deserves proper consideration before an irreversible decision is made. With 1,311 people now adding their names, the message from this petition could hardly be clearer: people want to see this historic church saved, reused and given a future – not demolished.
To those who have joined the campaign recently, your support is genuinely appreciated, particularly at this crucial stage when we are awaiting an imminent planning decision. Thank you also to everyone who has continued sharing the petition, encouraging others to sign, submitting objections and helping spread awareness of the campaign. 1,311 signatures is a tremendous show of public support – and every additional signature strengthens that message.
📢 MAJOR UPDATE: MORE HERITAGE SUPPORT, NATIONAL REUSE CAMPAIGN BACKS CLEVELEYS CHURCH – AND NEW PLANNING RULES STRENGTHEN THE CASE FOR REUSE
As we approach what is now expected to be an imminent decision on the future of Cleveleys United Reformed Church, there have been several very important developments in the campaign to prevent its demolition. Further objections have been lodged, the case for reuse has received attention from a national campaign, and – particularly importantly – national planning policy has changed while this application has remained undecided. Taken together, these developments have strengthened the case for retaining and reusing the church rather than demolishing it. We are now awaiting Wyre Council's decision, but until that decision is actually issued, there is still time for people to make their voices heard.
🏛️ FLEETWOOD CIVIC SOCIETY HAS OBJECTED
I am delighted to report that Margaret Daniels of Fleetwood Civic Society has now lodged an objection to the demolition of the church. Fleetwood Civic Society has a long-established role in protecting and promoting the architectural and historic heritage of our neighbouring town, including scrutinising planning applications, campaigning for the preservation of historic buildings and features, and promoting high standards of planning and architecture. Its activities have also included Heritage Open Days and successful efforts to secure recognition and protection for important local buildings and gardens. Margaret's intervention therefore brings another experienced local civic and heritage voice into the growing campaign against demolition.
BLACKPOOL CIVIC TRUST HAS OBJECTED
Blackpool Civic Trust has now formally submitted an objection to Wyre Council opposing the demolition of Cleveleys United Reformed Church. The Trust is calling for the existing building to be retained and repurposed for alternative community uses, rather than demolished, and has also raised concerns about the potential impact of the proposed new retail development on existing shops and businesses around Victoria Road.
This is another important independent civic voice supporting the case for retention and reuse, adding to the growing body of heritage and community organisations opposing the complete loss of the church. A huge thank you to Stephen Jones and Blackpool Civic Trust for taking the time to consider the evidence and formally make their views known to Wyre Council.
♻️ DON'T WASTE BUILDINGS TAKES UP THE CLEVELEYS CASE
Another particularly significant intervention has come from Leanne Tritton Hon FRIBA, co-founder of Don't Waste Buildings, who has now objected to the proposal. Don't Waste Buildings is a UK-wide voluntary campaign bringing together thousands of people from the property, architectural, engineering, finance and heritage sectors, campaigning for the reuse, retrofit and adaptation of existing buildings rather than unnecessary demolition and replacement. This is particularly relevant to Cleveleys URC because reuse has been at the heart of our campaign from the beginning. The closure of a congregation should not automatically mean that a substantial and adaptable building has reached the end of its useful life.
Leanne has also brought the Cleveleys case to a much wider audience through an article entitled “A bag for life. A building for landfill – What two churches and a Co-op tell us about the buildings we choose to throw away.” The article directly compares the threatened Cleveleys church with the former church at Anchorsholme which was demolished and replaced by a standard Co-op store, and asks whether the proposed new use at Cleveleys could instead be accommodated within the existing building. The important point is not to assume that conversion must be possible, but that reuse deserves to be properly investigated before a perfectly usable existing building is condemned to demolition. As Leanne points out, former churches throughout the country have acquired completely new lives as shops, workplaces, homes, restaurants and community spaces.
Don't Waste Buildings has also been actively highlighting the Cleveleys church campaign through its new Facebook page and helping to bring our case to a wider audience. As a relatively new organisation campaigning for something that could make a real difference to threatened buildings across the country, I would encourage everyone supporting this petition to return that support by giving Don't Waste Buildings a follow and helping their new page reach a much wider public audience. Their campaign goes far beyond Cleveleys: it is about changing attitudes towards existing buildings so that reuse, adaptation and retrofit are properly explored before demolition becomes the answer. The more public support organisations like this receive, the stronger that message becomes.
Please follow and support Don't Waste Buildings here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61593856150377
Read Leanne Tritton's article:
https://leannetritton.substack.com/p/a-bag-for-life-a-building-for-landfill?r=iesdd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Don't Waste Buildings has also highlighted the Cleveleys case on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02u1acCaRdSbz494UnRqoxUv7fAnQn6CXZK4Hh629PVXdPmN35mKzRaY88kekWcKopl&id=61593856150377
🏛️ THE HERITAGE CASE AGAINST DEMOLITION
These latest interventions join what has become an extraordinary collection of heritage organisations and specialists who have opposed demolition or formally recognised the significance of the church. SAVE Britain's Heritage formally objected and argued for retention and reuse, while The Twentieth Century Society formally objected and identified the substantial and unjustified harm that total demolition of this Non-Designated Heritage Asset would cause.
Historic Buildings & Places has opposed the loss and supported retention, while the Council for British Archaeology has supported recognition of the church's heritage significance and its retention. These are independent heritage organisations reaching remarkably similar conclusions about the importance of avoiding the unnecessary loss of the building.
At county and local-authority level, Lancashire County Council's Historic Environment Team recognised the church as a Non-Designated Heritage Asset ( NDHA ) and identified demolition as the total loss of its significance. Wyre Council's own Conservation Officer has also recognised the church as a Non-Designated Heritage Asset, acknowledged its surviving architectural interest and opposed total demolition. Fleetwood Civic Society has now added another local civic voice to those objections, while Don't Waste Buildings has intervened both through the planning process and publicly to challenge whether demolition is justified when reuse has not been properly explored. The breadth of support now stretches from local and county heritage specialists to national amenity societies and national campaigns concerned with conservation, sustainability and building reuse.
The church has additionally been formally entered onto the Lancashire Historic Environment Record (HER), providing a permanent official record of its recognised architectural and historic significance.
It has also been selected by SAVE Britain's Heritage for its 2026 Buildings at Risk Register (BAR), giving the threatened church national recognition as a historic building at risk. Neither the HER entry nor the Buildings at Risk Register automatically prevents demolition, but both are important pieces of independent recognition which add to the considerable body of evidence demonstrating that this is not simply an unremarkable redundant building. It is a recognised heritage asset whose complete demolition would be irreversible.
The applicant’s original narrative that this church possesses little architectural or heritage value has now been comprehensively undermined by the evidence. Multiple respected heritage bodies and specialists have recognised the church as a Non-Designated Heritage Asset or supported its significance and retention; it has been formally entered onto the Lancashire Historic Environment Record and selected for SAVE Britain’s Heritage’s national Buildings at Risk Register; and extensive new research into the building and its architect, Daniel Wynne-Thomas FRIBA, has revealed an architectural pedigree and historic significance far greater than the applicant acknowledged. Taken together, this is not a marginal difference of opinion: it represents a substantial body of independent professional recognition and documented research which directly contradicts the applicant’s assessment and demonstrates that its portrayal of the church as having little architectural or heritage value is simply no longer credible.
♻️ THE NATIONAL PLANNING RULES HAVE CHANGED – AND THIS IS IMPORTANT
There has also been a major change while this planning application has remained undecided: the Government has introduced a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The NPPF sounds technical, but in simple terms it is the national planning rulebook which councils have to take into account when making planning decisions. The new framework gives clearer support to making use of existing buildings and materials, including policy encouraging development proposals to take opportunities to reuse existing structures and materials. It advocates for councils to explore re-use as priority, before demolition is considered. That is extremely relevant to the argument we have been making about Cleveleys URC from the very beginning.
In simple terms, the question should no longer be presented merely as “old church or new shop?” There is another possibility which deserves proper consideration: can the church itself be reused and given a viable new purpose? Former churches throughout Britain demonstrate that religious buildings can successfully become shops, homes, community facilities, workplaces, leisure uses and many other things. The existence of a commercial proposal for the site does not in itself demonstrate that demolishing the existing building is the only viable way of achieving a new use.
The new NPPF does not automatically prevent demolition and it does not guarantee that this application will be refused, so it is important not to overstate what has changed. What it does mean is that the argument we have consistently made – why demolish a substantial existing building before properly investigating whether it can be reused? – now has significantly stronger support within national planning policy. The heritage provisions are important too, because national policy continues to recognise heritage assets as an irreplaceable resource, while seeking uses compatible with their conservation and requiring harm to be avoided where possible or minimised where it cannot be avoided. Because the Cleveleys application remains undecided, the current national planning policies are relevant to the decision Wyre Council now has to make.
In other words, the national planning-policy landscape has changed while this application has been sitting on the table, and it has changed in a direction which strengthens the case for reuse. That is particularly significant here because reuse has never been some last-minute argument invented to stop development; it has been one of the central themes of this campaign throughout. The question has always been whether the building could accommodate another viable use rather than simply being treated as an obstacle to be removed. National planning policy now gives that question greater importance.
⏳ THE DECISION IS NOW IMMINENT
After many months of campaigning, research, objections, heritage assessments and new historical discoveries, we are now awaiting Wyre Council's decision on planning application 26/00116/FUL. Whatever happens, an enormous amount has already been achieved: the church is recognised as a Non-Designated Heritage Asset, entered onto the Lancashire Historic Environment Record, included on SAVE Britain's Heritage's national Buildings at Risk Register, and supported by an extraordinary range of local, regional and national heritage voices. Its architectural history and the work of its architect have also been researched to a level which simply did not exist when this planning application was originally submitted. But none of that means the building is safe yet.
📢 PLEASE KEEP SHARING AND OBJECTING
Until the planning decision is actually issued, please continue sharing this petition with friends, family, local groups and anybody who cares about Cleveleys, historic buildings, sustainability or the unnecessary demolition of buildings capable of reuse. Please also continue lodging objections with Wyre Council under planning application 26/00116/FUL while the application remains open and undecided. You do not need to be an architectural or planning expert to object; the fundamental point can be expressed very simply. This is a recognised heritage asset, it is a substantial existing building capable of having another life, reuse has not been exhausted, and demolition is permanent.
You can lodge objections to Wyre Council planning team here:
https://publicaccess.wyre.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=TA93D4SDN4C00
What began as an attempt to save one threatened church has developed into something much larger. Cleveleys URC is now being discussed not only because of its architectural and historic significance, but as an example of the wider question we increasingly need to ask about existing buildings: why demolish and rebuild before properly exploring whether we can reuse what we already have? The chapter does not have to close simply because the congregation has left, and the church could still have decades of useful life ahead of it in an entirely new role. Please keep sharing, keep objecting and keep supporting the campaign until the decision is actually made.
https://www.change.org/p/save-the-cleveleys-united-reformed-church-from-demolition
🏛️♻️ SAVE CLEVELEYS URC – REUSE, DON'T DEMOLISH.
Kind regards,
Ian French
Petition creator.