Saved spire
RE: YOUR story about the St John the Divine Fairfield ?Spire saved by campaigners? (Daily Post, Thursday, December 11).
Having been closely involved with the whole process of dealing with a serious health and safety issue in what is actually a non-listed building, I know exactly how much help the campaigners gave in saving the spire ? none at all.
They didn?t save it ? the local church and a private purchaser did, as our statement made plain.
I personally liaised with Will Palin, of SAVE Britain?s Heritage, who has been constructive and supportive, understanding how difficult this situation was to resolve, and has written today congratulating the church and diocese on brokering the deal.
Unlike SAVE, Jonathan Brown has never spoken to me to obtain the facts about the situation, yet he feels able to suggest that the diocese was shamed into taking this action.
In doing so, he ignores the huge amount of ongoing work that the diocese and local congregations undertake on a daily basis to preserve many of the city?s finest buildings. And this work rarely gets any public mention.
The so-called ?campaign? to save the spire of St John?s actually changed nothing and did nothing.
All the processes we went through were normal and necessary.
The one thing the campaigners might have offered, financial assistance, was notable in its absence.
Few of us appreciate being told how to spend our money, yet campaigners were asking the local congregation to fall on their swords to protect a landmark. That is not the church?s prime business, yet they still dug into their own pockets to make the deal possible.
It?s fine to have lofty ideals about maintaining landmarks, but, unless there is a recognition of the financial costs involved, and a cool assessment of the comparative quality of the building ? and English Heritage and the listing authority are the final word on that ? it is little more than hot air.
St John?s spire is a notable feature on the approach to Liverpool down Edge Lane Drive.
I was as keen as anyone to see it saved, and have personally engaged with as many people as I could in order to find a solution. To be pilloried when we achieve another small victory for a local community is very unfair.
Archdeacon Ricky Panter, via email
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