Background

All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council v Church Commissioners [2024] UKPC 23 was an appeal by the PCC and the incumbent of All Saints Spring Park under the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011 to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council against a scheme made by the Church Commissioners under the Measure. An episcopal visitation in 2016 had concluded that the parish was not financially viable [5], and the Commissioners made a scheme under the Measure to dissolve the parish and divide its area between the neighbouring parishes of St John Shirley and St George Shirley. The incumbent, Revd Yvonne Clarke – who was the first black woman to be ordained deacon in the Church of England and one of the first women to be ordained priest [3] – and the Parochial Church Council had made written representations on the proposal, but the Bishop of Southwark duly approved the scheme in June 2020.

The principal legal question before the Board was whether the Commissioners were a public authority for the purposes of the Human Rights Act 1998. In addition, the Commissioners raised a question as to whether the Board had jurisdiction to hear the appeal [2].

The arguments Continue reading →