Latest on the Reordering Scheme for Pip and Jim's:
Dateline - 6 October
Pip and Jim’s Church has now received the Faculty from the Diocesan Chancellor with approval for the reordering of the interior of the Church to go ahead (see below). Church House will go on the market in October and work on the church will start some time after Easter 2019. SPJARA will keep its website updated with further news. The Church is seeking suitable space for the Church Office (two desk spaces) in the immediate area. If anyone knows of suitable space please contact Laura Evans on 01242 573508 or email [email protected].
Letter from the St. Philips and St. James Church, September 2018
Dear Neighbours
We wanted to write to update you on our Church redevelopment plans. As you will remember we received planning permission for external work from Cheltenham Borough Council last year. This month we have received permission for the internal works that are subject to the ecclesiastical faculty jurisdiction which applies to Church of England churches. Copies of the judgement can be found at the back of Church or downloaded from our website at www.pipandjims.org.uk.As you may recollect, the plans are for the removal of the pews, introduction of flexible seating, underfloor heating and a new wooden floor to create an open, flexible space in the nave. Towards the back of the side aisles there will be a small servery and office contained within self-standing pods. Above these there will be glazed meeting rooms. The west end door will be opened as a new entrance which will connect with a landscaped piazza/carpark.
We have been grateful to neighbours and the residents’ association for offering feedback on these plans. Through your input these ideas have been revised and improved. These are important changes balancing the heritage we have received and the needs of our congregation and wider community in the 21st century. We hope that this will remain a beautiful, awe inspiring, sacred building but one many more people will be able to use and enjoy on a daily basis.
Our local MP, Alex Chalk, has also welcomed this news saying “I’m delighted that Pip and Jim’s have been given the green light for this project. I know that they have worked hard to get to this point and have worked closely with the local residents’ association. Churches have a tough job safeguarding the buildings they have inherited, and responding to the needs and opportunities of the modern world is more important than ever. Change is not always easy but I think that these plans get the balance right and ensure that more people will be able to enjoy this wonderful building. I look forward to seeing the congregation’s ambitious plans for an even greater role in the community become a reality.”
Over the autumn we plan to market the sale of Church House and tender the contract for works to the Church. We expect that work will commence in the spring of 2019. We will write again once contractors have been appointed and timescales clarified. Should you have any comments or questions in the meantime please feel free to contact our parish administrator, Laura Evans, at [email protected] who can pass messages on to our project board."
Further updates as we get them will be put on www.spjara.org.uk.
St. Philip & St. James' Church - the "Plaza" plan
May 2017
May 2017
Planning Application 17/00779/Full
The above application refers to the creation of a new plaza / outdoor community space for the church, incorporating parking spaces (including for cycles), seating, quality hard and soft landscaping, and refuse storage. Removal of brick wall to facilitate pedestrian access directly to the church doors | 60 Painswick Road
The following comments about the above scheme have been agreed with the committee of SPJARA, and take into account a discussion at our recent 2017 AGM, at which details of the proposals were on display.
SPJARA Comments:
The scheme seems to us to be very professionally prepared, with great care given to how to re-orient views of, and the approach to, St Philip and St James's Church. Considerable attention has also been given to planting and surfaces.
We like the way the scheme creates a new axis to the church, and the diagonal walk into the "plaza" is a clever device. From an aesthetic standpoint, it is a regrettable that this new area has to be used for a car park but, given the pressure for on-street car parking, this is unavoidable. With the new, varied hard surfaces and the planting scheme, the effect will be to create a new car park which contributes to the local environment (there are too few that do this in Cheltenham). The central seating area could be an attractive feature.
The proposed scheme also meets the functional challenges of creating a new pedestrian approach to the church, car parking for the church and vehicular access to Brandon Terrace Lane in an innovative way. It should also meet the concerns expressed by some of the users of the lane over the previous scheme.
We have three specific comments:
The above application refers to the creation of a new plaza / outdoor community space for the church, incorporating parking spaces (including for cycles), seating, quality hard and soft landscaping, and refuse storage. Removal of brick wall to facilitate pedestrian access directly to the church doors | 60 Painswick Road
The following comments about the above scheme have been agreed with the committee of SPJARA, and take into account a discussion at our recent 2017 AGM, at which details of the proposals were on display.
SPJARA Comments:
The scheme seems to us to be very professionally prepared, with great care given to how to re-orient views of, and the approach to, St Philip and St James's Church. Considerable attention has also been given to planting and surfaces.
We like the way the scheme creates a new axis to the church, and the diagonal walk into the "plaza" is a clever device. From an aesthetic standpoint, it is a regrettable that this new area has to be used for a car park but, given the pressure for on-street car parking, this is unavoidable. With the new, varied hard surfaces and the planting scheme, the effect will be to create a new car park which contributes to the local environment (there are too few that do this in Cheltenham). The central seating area could be an attractive feature.
The proposed scheme also meets the functional challenges of creating a new pedestrian approach to the church, car parking for the church and vehicular access to Brandon Terrace Lane in an innovative way. It should also meet the concerns expressed by some of the users of the lane over the previous scheme.
We have three specific comments:
- The scheme seems rather fussy in its detailing. It is hard to get a good impression of what it would look like in the absence of sketches or other visuals, but the marking out of the radiating approach in particular could be somewhat simplified we feel.
- We are disappointed that the scheme did not pick up the existing avenue effect of Grafton Road as something that should be respected and replicated (working with the Borough Council tree officer and Gloucestershire Highways, SPJARA has invested a lot of effort and some money in the care of this avenue over the past few years). Surprisingly, the design analysis makes no mention of it.
We think that the existence of this avenue makes a strong case for the planting of two new trees beside Grafton Road. These should be planted on either side of the entrance, not just one as proposed to the right, and for both trees to be seen as a contribution to the avenue of street trees.
The one tree proposed is described thus: "A new fastigiate Tulip tree as a feature by the corner of Brandon Lane to frame the view of the church from Grafton Road and provide seasonal interest - without growing wide enough to obscure the view or foul the road". The second tree should be the same. Over time, these new trees would become features in the streetscape and help frame the entrance to the plaza (especially as the beech tree by Church House may not live all that much longer). A tree to the left of the entrance would not interfere with the diagonal approach to the plaza nor significantly impact on the view of the church from the street.
- The scheme will require a lot of maintenance. If it gets neglected, the planted areas will look depressing (there are too many examples around town of that)! We understand that the Church will use the excellent volunteer team who already look after the grounds very well. But the maintenance of the new spaces and planting will be more demanding. So Illman Young should draw up a management schedule, and the Church should ensure that it appoints someone to oversee the area's on-going maintenance
