Churches threatened by repeat theft of lead
By Hayley Dixon
CHURCHES are being left at the mercy
of lead thieves because of rules that
prevent parishioners using modern
materials to replace stolen roofs.
A Grade I-listed church in the dio-
cese of Salisbury has had its roof
stripped for the second time after plan-
ning rules meant the warden was
banned from using composite materi-
als instead of lead after the first theft.
It took St Peter’s in Stourton four
years to raise £160,000 to replace the
stolen metal and repair the water dam-
age that had occurred in the meantime
and work was only completed last year.
It comes as the rising price of metal
has seen thefts from church roofs in-
crease by a third in the past two years,
with incidents averaging 37 a month.
St Peter’s is not the first church to
suffer repeat thefts. Last night there
were calls for church and local council
planning officials to be realistic. Cris-tina Fearon, who has been the church-
warden at St Peter’s for more than a
decade, said that the insistence that
lead is replaced like-for-like is “putting
churches at risk”.
She said that alongside the risk of re-
peated theft, it took years to raise
enough money to cover the expense of
replacement and in the meantime,
damage was being done to the build-
ings. “There has to be a bit of realism
about this,” Mrs Fearon said.
The restrictions on what can be used
to replace stolen roofs are particularly
onerous on listed churches, of which
there are more than 13,000 across theUK. St Peter’s church, which dates
from 1290, is a Grade I-listed building
and has a number of listed memorials
from the Hoare banking family, who
bought the estate in the 1700s.
“I wish that the diocesan advisory
committees would put all of their en-
ergy into choosing a material that
would be good as a replacement,” said
Mrs Fearon.
Any changes to churches must be
approved by the local Diocesan Advi-
sory Committee (DAC) and, if they are
listed, the local council planning de-
partment. The Church Building Coun-
cil describes lead as “the mostappropriate” roofing material and
warns there will be a “stronger pre-
sumption” that “historic appearance”
is maintained if a building is listed.
In 2017, Historic England published
guidance advising that “like-for-like is
highly desirable” when a roof is stolen
and stated that changing the material
could “detract enormously from a
building’s significance”. The guidance
states that Historic England will “not
support the use of synthetic non-metal
materials” except in “highly excep-
tional circumstances”.
Mrs Fearon said that after the origi-
nal theft in 2012 she “begged” to be al-lowed to use a much cheaper modern
composite material for the roof but had
been told that it had to be lead.
On Friday, the parishioner who
opens the church every day went in to
find the pews flooded and they realised
they been targeted again. The alarm
had been disabled.
In its latest strategic assessment of
serious crime the National Crime
Agency warned that after a decade of
decline, rising demand has “made
metal theft one of the fastest growing
crimes globally”, adding that offenders
“show a growing propensity for vio-
lence if confronted”.Songs of Praise
broadcasts
first same-sex
wedding
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
SONGS OF PRAISE has screened the
show’s first gay wedding as part of a
modernisation drive.
Presenters of the BBC One show
vowed they were “not afraid of contro-
versy” as they broadcast a wedding
that is currently banned in the Church
of England.
The show, which has run since 1961,
was traditionally a “sort of hymn sand-
wich”, Pam Rhodes, a presenter for
more than three decades, said. Now,
with a magazine format and a cast that
includes Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh
soprano, and J B Gill, the former front-
man of boy-band JLS, the show is ap-
pealing to a new audience.
Last month, Stormzy , the grime star,
allowed his Glastonbury headline per-
formance of Blinded By Your Grace to
be broadcast on Songs of Praise.
Yesterday’s episode featured the
wedding of Jamie Wallace and Ian Mc-
Dowall at the Rutherglen United Re-
formed Church in Glasgow, one of the
few religious denominations in the UK
to welcome same-sex marriage.
Since 2016, individual congregations
have been able to vote on whether
their church should hold the weddings.
Ms Jenkins, 39, told The Mail on Sun-
day: “Today we do have our congrega-
tional moments but we show the
different ways people worship. It’s
about adapting, making faith personal.”
The show’s changing audience was
demonstrated to Rev Kate Bottley, 44,
the programme’s only ordained pre-
senter, when she sat down next to a
man drinking whisky at 4am at Glas-
tonbury Tor and he turned to her and
said: “Aren’t you on Songs of Praise?”
The vicar said: “I don’t expect people
to fall on their knees in front of Songs Of
Praise. But we do do the big stuff – life,
love, death and trauma – and we are
definitely not afraid of controversy.”
BBC ‘strong-arming’ TV
producers in iPlayer dispute
By Camilla Turner
THE BBC is embroiled in a row with
television companies after attempting
to extend the length of time pro-
grammes can remain on the iPlayer
from one month to one year.
The corporation is accused of trying
to pressurise independent producers
into extending the availability of their
shows on the iPlayer without paying
millions in additional licensing fees.
Earlier this month, Ofcom, the
broadcasting regulator, allowed the
BBC to extend the amount of time box
sets could be viewed to one year.
The BBC warned it would become
“irrelevant” unless able to offer shows
for longer than 30 days in order to com-
pete with platforms such as Netflix.
But independent producers say that
keeping their shows on iPlayer longer
means that they are less valuable when
they are later allowed to be sold on to
other distributors, which they are cur-
rently allowed to do 18 months after
they have aired on the BBC.
Ofcom has said the BBC needs to “ad-
equately compensate” producers.
However, Pact, which represents the
independent production industry, said
members had reported that the BBC
was trying to obtain permission to use
shows for longer without paying more.
“The BBC has consistently sought to
strong-arm suppliers into giving ...
these rights for no compensation,”
John McVay, Pact’s chief executive,
told The Guardian.
A BBC spokesman said: “Longer BBC
iPlayer availability does not reduce the
opportunities for [independent pro-
ducers] commercially, rather, success
on the BBC leads to commercial suc-
cess for independently produced pro-
grammes.”Asthma stopped me giving a
breath test, presenter claims
By Daily Telegraph ReporterMARTIN ROBERTS, the presenter of
Homes Under the Hammer, attempted
to avoid a drink driving conviction by
claiming his asthma stopped him from
giving a breath sample.
The 56-year-old, who has failed to
get his conviction overturned, was ar-
rested on suspicion of driving under
the influence of alcohol last year, after
failing to provide a breath test.
But Roberts insists this is because of
his chronic asthma, and said that he
tried several times to provide a sample.
He denied failing to provide a speci-
men of breath, but in March Bath mag-
istrates’ court convicted him, fining
him £3,461 and banning him from driv-
ing for 23 months.
Police accused him of sucking rather
than blowing and, after only one suc-
cessful test which showed him to bealmost twice over the limit, they
charged him with failing to provide a
specimen of breath.
Roberts maintains the reading could
have been contaminated.
He appeared at Bristol Crown Court
on Friday, where he failed to have the
conviction and sentence overturned.
The recorder Mr Noel Casey dis-
missed the case, retained the sentence
and imposed £520 costs.
Mr Casey told Roberts: “We accept
the appellant suffers from asthma but
not to an extent much greater than
many other sufferers.”
Speaking outside the court, Roberts
said: “This is a bad day for me. But it is
also a terrible day for asthma sufferers.”
Sgt Andrew Mundy arrested Roberts
on foot. He said: “I invited him to the
police vehicle for a sample. He was
slurring, speaking in a repetitive man-
ner and you could smell alcohol.”Warden of Grade 1-listed
building that has twice had
its lead roof stolen calls for
rethink on planning rules
Croome with a view The National Trust shares an image of one of its most beautiful locations, Croome in Worcestershire, to mark World Photography Day,
which takes place today. This image was a previous entry in the charity’s Handbook Photography competition, open for entries this year until Sept 1.ROGER LANE/PA WIRENews
Last tango
Katya Jones and
her husband
Neil, left, both
performers on
Strictly Come
Dancing, are to
separate, they
announced
yesterday. The
couple said their
relationship had
mellowed into a
friendship.
Katya, 29, made
headlines last
year when she
was seen kissing
her then partner
on the show,
comedian SeannENTERPRISE NEWS AND PICTURES Walsh.
Jamie Wallace and
Ian McDowall’s
service was the first
gay wedding to be
shown on the BBC’s
religious programme6 ***^ Monday 19 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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