When thieves steal lead from the church roof

SIR – The decision to make a churchwarden of All Saints, Pickwell, pay the costs of a consistory court hearing seems vindictive (report, July 21). It was the parochial church council, of which I am a member, that decided to use Sarnafil polymer to repair the roof after the theft of lead roofing. It was duly minuted at the PCC meeting.

The PCC, as custodians of the church, took action to preserve the building from further damage, as any householder would do. We have a 130-year-old organ and weather ingress would have put it beyond repair.

An application for a faculty (ecclesiastical permission) for the Sarnafil roof would have taken months of toing and froing, and swift action was needed. A retrospective faculty was later sought, and the diocesan advisory committee recommended granting it. But the diocesan chancellor, Mark Blackett-ord, was not prepared to agree.

From my house I can see the section of roof replaced and it is difficult to differentiate the Sarnafil from the old lead. The chancellor should have visited and seen for himself

The Diocese of Leicester, I believe, granted a faculty 10 years ago for the replacement of stolen lead with Sarnafil at a church in Loughborough.

Historic England recommends replacing lead with stainless steel in “exceptional circumstances”. I went to another church within our benefice earlier this year that had replaced stolen lead with stainless steel. During the service, it rained and the noise interrupted the singing of a hymn, which usually gives me an uplift spiritually – but not on this occasion.

Emma Robarts (Letters, July 24) says: “A change of policy is desperately needed from the Church Buildings Council and Historic England.” I agree. Keith J Ebsworth

Pickwell, Leicestershire