Chelsworth residents defeat plans by All Saints’ Church to increase annual floodlighting hours after disturbance complaints

Plans for a 600 per cent annual rise in floodlighting around a village church have been blocked, after a ruling body decided there was no justification for the change.

The Ecclesiastical Church Council (ECC) refused a petition by All Saints’ Church, in Chelsworth, which sought to extend lighting around the building from 25 hours to 150 hours per year.

Following objections by residents living near the site, ECC chancellor Justin Gau agreed such a change would create unacceptable light pollution for neighbours.

Churchwardens had sought to boost the hours All Saints’ Church is lit on weekends from November to March, and on special occasions, such as Christmas.

The application staid this would not only elevate the presence of the building but deliver a ‘beautiful sight when lit’ and ‘a comforting presence on a dark winter’s night’.

However, objectors cited concerns about disturbance to nearby homes, potential security issues and harm to nocturnal wildlife, particularly the bat population.

Retired GP Christopher Cullen who, with his wife, lives in The Grange, adjacent to the site, said they were grateful to have All Saints’ Church as their neighbour but feared the impact increased lighting would have.

He also alleged there had been ‘erratic’ interior and exterior lighting for years, regularly exceeding the 25-hour-per-annum limit and ‘causing stress, disruption and sleep disturbance’.

“It is clear that we love where we live and feel so privileged to have All Saints’ as our neighbour,” he said.

“We believe lighting a building when not in use because it is old and some think it beautiful and comforting would be a poor decision and a negative, outdated and backward step that sends the wrong Christian message.”

Suffolk Wildlife Trust chairman Ian Brown also voiced his opposition, suggesting the proposal appeared to be ‘purely for aesthetic reasons’, to the detriment of the surrounding nature and biodiversity.

In response, Sir Gerald Howarth – one of two churchwardens at All Saints’ – insisted the proposal had the ‘overwhelming support of villagers’, based on a household survey.

He also said some objections contained false information and appeared to have been orchestrated by a small number of opponents.

Summarising the arguments, the ECC concluded there were sufficient wildlife mitigations and that any additional lighting would be privately funded and utilise renewable energy.

But Mr Gau sided with the objectors about the effect the increased hours would have, adding that he found the tone of the rebuttals by the petitioners as ‘regrettable’.

He also found in favour of complaints the floodlights had been uncontrolled for some time, pointing out that the registrar had to intervene because they had been lit beyond their permitted hours.

“Were this petition to be unopposed, it would have passed the seal without any difficulty,” said Mr Gau. “The issue here is now one of neighbourliness.

“The petitioners seek to extend the time of floodlighting the church but can give me no substantive reason for doing so, particularly in light of the objections from those most directly affected by it.”