The Chapel - A year in the planning Part 7 of Liz Hutton's journey to restore a derelict chapel in Wales

Looking back over the year, we’ve seen some significant political change, climate change (it’s been quite warm recently), and cultural change (I’ve watched a lot of new shows on Netflix). Unfortunately, in the world of planning, and specifically the planning in our beautiful National Park, change has been much less apparent. We continue to work through the seemingly endless list of requirements as best we can with the professional advisors and wait (increasingly less patiently!) to start works.

Our present conundrum is in regard to the windows. Over time there look to have been a number of ‘upgrades’ to the window in the Chapel and the attached schoolhouse. As a result, the building displays a somewhat eclectic mixture of double glazing, semi-original sashes and some very fetching boarded up holes which presumably originally housed some windows. As I have discussed previously, the Chapel is not listed but is in a conservation area. As a result, any works that change the exterior do need to be appropriate and in keeping with heritage requirements.  

Having done significant research and testing in our own home, we hoped that a hybrid window product replicating the original design would be appropriate to maintain building character, whilst ticking the boxes for energy efficiency. After much back and forth, we have now been advised that only hardwood is going to satisfy the requirements of the Heritage officer. It’s incredibly difficult to understand in a street containing a multitude of character properties with double glazing, why a more technological option is not permitted, particularly given that the difference is difficult to tell even close up. We are increasingly having to accept the intransigence of what we are up against, there is simply no room for a view to be taken, nor any push-back available to inconsistencies in application of policy. There is of course a significant cost implication for a hardwood installation as well as the ongoing maintenance. We don’t have any garden space with the Chapel, so ongoing maintenance requirements will also have an implication on our (thankfully lovely) neighbours that we were trying to avoid. Ultimately, this is the cost of trying to restore an old building. It isn’t always going to make sense, you are going to feel hard done by and it is going to cost twice as much as you thought (if you’re lucky!).

As much as I wish we could just ‘power through’ this bit like in Grand Designs when Kevin’s beautiful voice over alludes to ‘x years later when planning is granted’, I am grateful for the chance to learn about these processes and make an effort to remind myself of the moments of joy. Every visit to Wales gives us a bit more time to explore the local area and support the new businesses opening up in the town (particularly the new tasting room and bakery). As ever, hopeful of a positive outcome next issue. 

More Chapel updates to come in due course. If you would like to follow along, please do so on Instagram@crickhowellchapel.

Read parts one, two, three, four, five and six of my journey.