Residential conversion plan for St John’s Church

The owner of the former St John’s Church building in Stone has submitted a planning application for a housing conversion. The plan is to convert the church into four residential units, with eight new-build apartments in the car park/annexe area.

Property developer Alistair Howells from Aston bought the building for £157,000 at auction in November 2013 and was set to develop a restaurant there in partnership with Affy Moini, owner of Stone restaurant The Olives. However, he says “planning issues” put paid to that plan, and that local people living around the building stated they didn’t want a restaurant. One of them is Adam Jones, Granville Terrace, owner of Granvilles restaurant, who has written to the planning department in support of no further restaurants in the town.

Adam writes: “I have run Granvilles since 1984. There has been a very significant increase in restaurants in Stone over this time – over 20 – and it’s my opinion, as well as many other operators, that supply has well and truly exceeded demand for the size of town and population.”

Instead, a planning application has been submitted to Stafford Borough Council to convert the church itself into four residential units, and to build eight apartments on the car park / annexe land. Mr Howells says he’ll be living himself in one of the residential units.

BHG (Stone) Ltd – Mr Howell’s company – has engaged the services of JPK Design and Les Stephan Planning Ltd to assist him in designing a proposal which – the application’s design, access and planning statement says – “not only makes the purchase and repair of the building financially viable, but also makes a positive contribution to the built environment”.

The statement goes on: “The Church itself will provide four residential units, all of which will be created to incorporate the intrinsic beauty of the building. Large stained glass windows will light the living areas and exposed ceilings will ensure that the open-nature of the building is retained wherever possible. In the largest of the 4 units sits the existing organ. This will become a focal feature of the dwelling; views from the ground floor will be retained by the retention of the existing mezzanine gallery floor which surrounds it. The master bedroom will be located opposite, with a glazed wall framing the view of the organ. This element of the building will remain entirely open.

“Externally, the changes to the Church will be absolutely minimal with the primary costs being associated with necessary repairs and remediation required to bring the building back into use. The Council and residents alike will be aware of the history to this site and its financial viability, it is pertinent therefore that a long-term use is found for this building to ensure its retention in perpetuity.”

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You can read the full design, access and planning statement HERE. All the planning application documents are HERE, where you can also submit comments.

There have already been comments of support, albeit cautious, from residents.

Judith Kelt from The Avenue writes: “On balance, I support this development because it is maintaining the residential nature of the area. This is particularly important because most of the site lies within the Stone Conservation Area. The development is providing reasonable parking facilities which is also important, given the parking problems on the Longton Road and surrounding streets. However, I do have concerns about the process of the development, as I feel that the new flats will be easy to build and sell, but that the church flats will be expensive to develop and difficult to sell.”

The plan for the site is to build and sell the new-build apartments first, which would then provide the funding for the church building renovation. Judith wants Stafford Borough Council to insert a condition into any planning consent to make sure the conversion of the church definitely happens.

Robert Jones from Granville Terrace wrote in his comment: “I support the fact that this development is residential as opposed to a commercial use. A commercial use would not be in keeping with the residential characteristics of the area. There are some concerns: Development of the church should occur simultaneously with the new build. I have concern that the more expensive alteration of the church could be shelved. Direct access to Longton Rd may create difficulties with other road users from The Avenue, Oulton and Longton Rd. Access is rather close to the existing traffic lights. Not all the site is in a Conservation Area. I would hope that the exacting standards of design for a Conservation Area would also apply to the non Conservation Area development.”

The St John’s congregation voted in May 2012 to move out of the building. They had been fundraising for years to raise £750,000 to repair its community building, an effort that was suspended because of the scale of the problems with the church itself, meaning the total amount needed to stay at the building had risen to a huge £1.75 million. The congregation held their final service in the building in August 2013 before moving out. Services have since been held at Walton Priory Middle School.

The annexe and car park at St John’s are currently being rented to Stone Van Hire, who’ll be there temporarily until work begins on the site should planning permission be granted.