A church became locked in a row over its new gender-neutral toilets after its neighbours complained parishioners could be heard through a wall urinating.
St Paul’s North Shore, in Blackpool, Lancashire, submitted plans to replace its existing lavatories with unisex facilities in September last year.
But a couple living next door objected, claiming they could “clearly hear individuals urinating” from their living room.
Now the church has been ordered to change its plans to stop this “nuisance” by the Diocese of Blackburn.
The Rev Deborah Prest and her churchwardens applied to the diocese in September to replace existing lavatories “long past their best” with new gender-neutral versions, and office space.
ADVERTISEMENT
They said the current facilities dated from the mid-20th century and had “tiles falling off the ceilings and the plaster around the windows falling out”.
But neighbours who share an adjoining wall objected to the plans for the unlisted building.
‘Lack of privacy’
“The toilet cubicles adjoining my living room produce a loud banging noise that echoes and vibrates through my property when the cubicles are used,” one neighbour wrote, of the existing facilities.
“This noise is not limited to the slamming of doors but also includes the lack of privacy when people use the facilities, which is very unpleasant as we can clearly hear individuals urinating.”
The neighbours claimed that they had stopped using their living room because of the noise, adding: “The proposal to convert these facilities into unisex toilets, which will likely increase their usage, will only exacerbate the issues we are currently experiencing.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In response, the church said it was the first time in the “nearly 60 years” the toilets had been located there that they received a complaint.
‘Good neighbours’
David Hodge KC, chancellor of the diocese’s consistory court, approved the plans but ordered the church to be “good neighbours” by installing soundproof insulation, or moving the toilets away from the adjoining wall.
He wrote in his ruling: “I will grant the faculty sought, but with permission for the petitioners to reverse the locations of the proposed unisex toilets and the new office, so that it is the new office, rather than the toilets, that immediately adjoins the party wall between the church building and the objectors’ home.”
Mr Hodge added: “If this can be done without causing any inconvenience to the parish, and at no material additional financial or other cost, then, as good neighbours, the parish should seek to adopt this as a solution to their neighbours’ concerns.
“If this is not practicable, then the parish should seek to introduce acoustic insulation to the party wall between the church building and the objectors’ home.”
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
