On 18th December we received the great news that the faculty for the rebuilding of All Saints had been granted by the Chancellor of Guildford Diocese. There is a condition to this which requires us to make some minor changes to the design of the new West Door, but this was expected and modified plans are already in preparation.
The faculty (and our earlier grant of planning permission) covers the full scope of works – the rebuilding of the church, the addition of the West Door and the new annexe on the north side. However our plan now is to carry out the work in two phases, with all work on the church in the first phase and the annexe following later. This is simply because we do not have the funds available to complete the full project at this time – the Covid pandemic has effectively stopped all our fund raising efforts since last March, while building costs have continued to rise. However we remain committed to moving on to the second phase as soon as it is feasible to do so.
Our architects and other professional advisers are now working hard to finalise detailed plans and agree costs with our contractors. We also await confirmation of the sum we will receive from our insurance company. We do not yet have a firm date on which works will start on site, but fully expect a springtime launch to this exciting and long-awaited project.
