Church-wall repair scheme is approved

The local authority has given the go-ahead for work to take place at Warkworth’s St Lawrence Church.

There are four sections of the Grade II-listed wall which require attention and the repairs will be carried out using existing stone where possible, or reclaimed natural stone to match the existing.

At the July meeting of Warkworth Parish Council, it was said that a useful pre-start site meeting had taken place with the contractor, Historic Property Restoration Ltd, and the church warden.

The works – expected to take 12 weeks – are likely to begin mid-August, depending on the contractor’s availability.

Meanwhile, an application to prune a number of trees in the churchyard has been approved by the local authority.

The report, which moves approval of the scheme, states: ‘It is suspected that the trees may be causing some of the issues with the wall. It was originally submitted that the trees may need to be removed, however, all parties wish to retain all trees and the proposed pruning works are to be undertaken in order to maintain the trees and manage public risk.

‘It has been agreed that the trees will be retained. Therefore it is considered impractical to create a tree preservation order (TPO) at this time as the pruning works are reasonable and if any trees are rendered dangerous, they may need to be removed, whether covered by a TPO or not, for public safety and protecting the heritage asset.’