THE CORNISH BUILDINGS GROUP STRONGLY OPPOSES THE PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF ST PAUL’S CHURCH, TRURO

An update...

The Diocese of Truro proposes demolition of the Grade II-listed St Paul’s Church, Tregolls Road, Truro after years of neglect which have left the historic Cornish church in a state of considerable decay.

The Cornish Buildings Group strongly opposes demolition for the following reasons:

The church is an important nineteenth–century building, the east end and tower of which were designed by nationally noted and respected architects J.D. Sedding and E.H. Sedding. The east end and tower are very important and exquisitely beautiful examples of late nineteenth–century Gothic Revival architecture. It is unconscionable that the building should be demolished and not preserved.

As well as being listed, the church is in a Conservation Area, to the character of which it makes a significant contribution. The whole point of Conservation Areas is to preserve the character of a designated area and demolishing a major historic building goes fundamentally against the core principles of Conservation Areas. The Church is not setting a good example by proposing this demolition.

It is widely accepted, recognising the concept of embodied carbon, that demolishing buildings and replacing them with newly built structures should be avoided wherever possible. Demolishing St Paul’s and replacing it with a new building is very harmful when seen from a carbon perspective and makes a nonsense of the Church’s Creation Care initiative, casting the Church in a very hypocritical light, encouraging others to take actions to help achieve net zero targets, often at considerable cost, whilst reneging on its own responsibilities.

St Paul’s and its tower provide a very important landmark at the foot of  Tregolls Road which is one of the principal entry routes to the city. The forfeiture of which would be an enormous loss to Truro and would leave its entrance marked by an indifferent modern office block and a petrol station — hardly an inspiring welcome to the city.

The Church maintains that it has sought alternative uses for the building but that no realistic prospects have been forthcoming. Whilst the building has been offered for sale through several estate agents, there does not appear to have been a proactive effort to bring together potentially interested parties to encourage the generation of ideas for alternative use.

There are a number of parties still interested in acquiring and restoring the church several of whom have approached the Cornish Buildings Group. At least one of the plans presents a potentially financially viable scheme, based on acceptable and sensible use of the building. At least one scheme proposes preservation of the tower at a cost which is dramatically less than the Diocese’s £7m estimate.

The demolition proposals paint a bleak picture of the church’s structural integrity. The engineers’ reports on the state of the building are not readily available, however, some people who have read the reports have made representations to us that the reports do not paint as bleak a picture as the diocese claims. We cannot evidence this view as we have not been able to access the reports, but suggest that an independent party reviews the reports before any irrevocable decisions are taken.

There are strong feelings against demolition in Truro. A petition initiated by the Cornish Buildings Group protesting against demolition has been signed by nearly 3,000 people, a clear indication of the feelings of the people of Truro and of the likely opprobrium that the Church will attract if it proceeds to demolition.

St Paul’s was constructed in the mid nineteenth century to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of north east Truro’s population which had outgrown the capacity and location of St Clements which had served the area before the construction of St Paul’s.  It had, until its closure for public worship in 2008, valuably served the needs of its area’s parishioners, schools, clubs and societies, and general population for over 150 years.  Those necessary and invaluable religious facilities and services were transferred to other churches/parishes in the city but not without significant disquiet and the engendering of a significant sense of spiritual deprivation. 

The loss of the pastoral and wider social activity within the former St Paul’s parish has been keenly felt. This should be remedied by the church being refurbished and repurposed to provide broader social support meeting the needs of the surrounding neighbourhoods once again.

If the church were to be demolished, the site should not become a residential development for which it is highly unsuitable.

>> Our petition to save St Paul's from the wrecker's ball is still live. Please sign it if you have not done so already, and encourage others to. We are very very close to 3,000 signatures and it would be a real accomplishment to exceed this.