The parish had two churches, the Old Church, a Grade II* listed building from 1563, and the New Church, built in 1858 and re-opened in 1958 following repairs to bomb damage. The Old Church was the secondary centre of worship and little used. Local groups and schools had expressed interest in using it but flexible space, more comfortable seating, heating and accessible facilities were needed to make the building usable and compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. A faculty for toilet and kitchen facilities, heating, new flooring and storage of the font was uncontentious, but the removal of Georgian box pews was opposed by the Georgian Group. The chancellor rejected as wrong in law the suggestion that no pre-1840 box pews should ever be removed from a church. Distinguishing the case of Re Holy Trinity, Horwich (2011) 13 Ecc LJ 383, the chancellor observed that a representative sample of pews were to be retained within the church, and that the works were reversible as the pew furniture was to be safely stored after disassembly. Further, the pews were so shoddy and in such poor condition that their removal would not adversely affect the character of the church. In addition, the presumption against change was displaced by the compelling Statement of Need. The faculty was granted. [Catherine Shelley]