Vicar fury at new home for Jehovahs
A VICAR’S passionate plea for councillors to reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses plans for a new place of worship has fallen on deaf ears.
The religious group has been given permission to relocate from the Kingdom Hall in Tweedmouth’s West End to Scremerston.
Rev Matthew Knox, Vicar of Tweedmouth and priest in charge of St Peter’s Church in Scremerston, argued the plan should be turned down because it is not a place of Christian worship as stated in the application.
He said: “This is not a Christian denomination and so it is misleading to use the phrase ‘Christian place of worship’ in its application.
“This new religious movement, adopting its name in 1931, departs from key traditional Christian doctrines and practices and disassociates itself from all main Christian denominations.
“It is not part of Churches Together in Berwick, it has its own translation of the bible and to my knowledge discourages independent thinking with the real threat of members being shunned by all other members if they dispute their governing body’s official doctrine.
“I am not trying to say in a free country they can’t hold these views or should not have a building in which to meet but I am saying that their views are not Christian and that if they insist on using this misleading term it has a direct impact on their application. People need to know what they are getting.”
He was supported by Coun Dougie Watkin, member for Norham and Islandshire, who said the application should not have been validated.
He said: “We have a situation where, quite clearly, there is information accompanying this application which is not factually correct. Given it states it’s a place of Christian worship and clearly that’s not the case, then how can we proceed.”
However, other members of Northumberland County Council’s north area planning committee said it made no difference on planning grounds whether or not the applicaton was for a ‘Christian’ place of worship.
Coun Trevor Thorne, member for Shilbottle, said: “It’s not our duty to enter into religious arguments. I do believe the Jehovah’s Witnesses should have a meeting place and on planning grounds this looks a sensible scheme.”
Members also heard that planning permission is already through to transform the Kingdom Hall into a new venue for art exhibitions.
Coun Brian Douglas, Berwick North, added: “When the Jehovah’s Witnesses meet it does take up most of the car parking in the West End so I think people in that area will welcome this proposal for it to be relocated. There is a follow up plan for the conversion of that site so I look on this positively.”
Councillors voted 7-1 in favour of a plan which will see the Jehovah’s Witnesses build a single storey unit on an agricultural paddock south of Derwentwater Terrace and next to Berwick Rugby Club.
Brian McDonald, a member of the Jehovah’s congragation, said: “We have 72 members at the present time and about 20 per cent of them are really struggling to get up the stairs in the current building, while four wheelchair users can’t attent meetings.
“There is also restricted on street parking in the streets around the Kingdom Hall and there’s an issue with maintenance costs on what is a 200 year-old building.”
Fellow Jehovah Harry Haworth added: “This new building will be purpose built and single storey so will resolve all these difficulties. It’s all that’s required for what we need to accommodate our 72 members.”
He revealed the Jehovah’s Witnesses had made numerous attempts over the past decade to find a suitable new venue but to no avail.
“Over the last eight to ten years we’ve investigated locations that must be in double figures but they have not been available so we are very pleased at last to have negotiated this land at Scremerston,” he said
Objections to the proposal were submitted by Ancroft Parish Council and four local residents.
In the parish council’s letter, clerk Isabel Hunter wrote: “There is already a Christian church in Scremerston which is grossly underused and underfunded, therefore the parish council would like to suggest that an agreement could be reached with the vicar/preacher of the existing establishment.
“The parish council feel this area of land would be better used as an extension to an almost full churchyard, therefore the parish council have an interest in this area to be used as burial space to supplement the overcrowded churchyard.”
She also raised concerns about extra traffic in the vicinity, especially on Sunday mornings when services clash with games at the rugby club.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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