South London church appeals to council to withdraw noise order

A south London church ordered to worship quietly is calling on the local council to withdraw a noise abatement notice it claims is "unlawful" and has been "wrongfully" issued.

All Nations Centre is being supported in its case against Lambeth Council by the Christian Legal Centre.

All Nations believes the council had no legal basis for issuing the notice, which came after members of the public complained to the council of noisy worship services at the church.

The church also claims that in this case the council did not follow its own published guidelines for issuing such notices.

At a recent meeting, the council admitted that the alleged noise had not been properly measured and failed to explain why they had not approached the church to discuss the complaints and give them a chance to rectify the problem prior to issuing the notice.

Leaders of All Saints believe that the council's action has nothing to do with noise but has instead been prompted by a small minority of people who have an agenda against the church. The church is also concerned that a local councillor was involved in this process.

All Saints commissioned independent noise engineers to carry out a noise study at the church following the council notice. According to the church, engineers concluded that the noise levels did not justify complaints of noise nuisance.

The church said it has introduced a number of measures to try and minimise noise coming from the church during worship time, including patrolling areas outside the church and keeping doors and windows shut during singing.

"The impact of the noise abatement notice cannot be understated. It would mean closure of their worship services and therefore the Church and of course the various transformational projects offered to the community by the church," said a spokesperson for the church.

"These would seem more than unreasonable, as the Church has unrestricted planning consent to hold worship services and have done so for many decades."

Local MP Kate Hoey has come to the defence of the church.

"All Nations has been operating in the same place for over 45 years and Lambeth Council officers have exceeded their powers in the arbitrary way they have been served a notice," she said.

"This is a waste of council money. The church officials were happy to discuss any problems but have been ignored."

Lambeth Council was unavailable for comment.