David Pittaway QC, sitting as a member of the Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal, the Court of Arches with Charles George QC, Dean of the Arches, and Geoffrey Tattersall QC, handed down judgment in an interesting case regarding the unlawful erection of a school nursery on a consecrated burial ground next to the Hawksmoor masterpiece, Christ Church, Spitalfields.
Exploring the scope of restoration orders, the court ordered that the building should be removed by 2029, after it would have been in use for 16 years, and accepted undertakings as to the landscaping of the whole burial ground for the benefit of the public.
Lucile Taylor and Tom Stafford, pupils at Hailsham Chambers, who attended the hearing Spitalfields Open Space Limited and others (Appellants) v The Governing Body of Christ Church Primary School and others (Respondents) (No 2) [2019] EACC 1 in the Court of the Arches, have prepared a case note, which is available here.
