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MOUNT ZION CHURCH Trying to keep you informed and welcoming anyone who wishes to help or comment. We thought it was important to keep everyone informed as to the current position with the church and the planning application that has been submitted by The Burrell Company to convert the church into 12 flats. There is still no date set for the application to go to the Planning Committee and the Planning Department are still dealing with it. They are still contacting “interested parties” and they still have to formally ask key bodies such as Historic Scotland for their opinion on the application. To date we understand that the Planning Department have received over 250 letters of objection, this is a tremendous effort by everyone and it shows the depth of feeling this application has generated both locally and from further a field. The Committee would like to point out that if you have written before but have another point to make please write again, and if you know of someone who has not written then please encourage them to do so. You can get the address of the Planning Department from our web site. We have received copies of letters that have been sent by some very highly respected bodies which we thought we should highlight some of the points they have raised. “Mount Zion Church is the essential heart of this unique settlement and should be retained as a place of worship as long as there is any remnant of this creative impulse in the form of a congregation anxious to continue to hold services there and to develop the building as a centre for community activity and for interpretation of Quarrier’s legacy.” Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland – 20 Nov 2003 “The Trust wishes to object strongly and in principle to the proposed subdivision of this magnificent church interior and the associated external alterations, which would be of severe detriment to its architectural character.” We believe this to be a highly insensitive and unacceptable scheme for the re-use of this historically and architecturally important church.” The Scottish Civic Trust – 4 Dec 2003 “The Trust feels that the present application is insensitive. It is felt that Quarriers Organisation should have made an effort to compromise by retaining, as a minimum, a portion of the existing church interior, in particular the area of the pulpit, organ and the circular Rose Window for the continuation of worship and other church activities…… and considers that the planning application should be refused.” Kilmacolm Civic Trust – 15 Feb 2004 Sadly there are two issues that are very concerning that we do not seem to be making any head way on. Despite several letters to Quarriers they are not prepared to do anything about repairing the church bells and the lights to the church clock, this despite our efforts to point out that they are required to do this under the Grade B Listing of the church. Some members of the Committee and other interested individuals have even offered to pay for the repairs, an offer that has been refused by Quarriers. The second issue is that despite the application taking some months still to come to the Planning Committee Quarriers decided that the Congregation should vacate the church as of the end of January 2004. The Congregation wrote and pleaded for Quarriers to reconsider but alas they would not and now the church lies empty and the congregation have to worship in Bethesda. In conclusion we want to thank everyone who has helped in anyway to try and oppose the conversion of the church. If we all work together we can defeat the Planning Application so if you haven’t written yet or you know someone who hasn’t written or you just want to write again please do so. Also if you have any ideas to assist us please contact the Committee either by phone or through our web site. We want to keep working very hard to defeat the Planning Application, get the Congregation back into the church with bells that ring and the church actively used as the focal point of the village that it was always intended to be. |
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