St Georges chapel - RAF Biggin Hill

[just another jocky]

A reply from HLF:


Thank you for your email in relation to the BigginHill Memorial Museum project. We are responding to all correspondence on thismatter in a similar way.

We awarded a grant of £1.98m in June 2017 for a project to carry out necessaryrepairs to the Chapel of Remembrance at Biggin Hill, safeguarding it for thefuture, as well as to create a new museum.

Pressures on public finances have rendered the MoD and Church of England unableto manage the Chapel's requirements and the whole site faced risk of closure,with no public access possible.

To be clear, the Grade II listed Chapel, built in 1951, is not beingdemolished.



Our funding is being used to undertake careful repairsto return the Chapel to its original intention and preserve it for the future,including stained glass reparations, replacement of damaged roof tiles,re-pointing, and brickwork repairs.

A small extension, built in 1990 is being removed, and we are aware of thelocal anxiety surrounding this. However Historic England, the government'sstatutory heritage agency, have reviewed the plans and they have not objectedto this work. This extension is not a public space. We are aware this requiresthe movement of the Air Crew Association stained glass window however theCouncil has assured us this will stay on the site and in view independently ofthe Museum, as it is now.

We have no role in the concept of the design of the museum. We requireapplicants follow the established democratic processes to ensure projects areappropriately consulted, and granted the necessary permissions. This projectwas granted planning permission following the required Council procedures,which is not something we have a place to override.

We note local concern over access to the Chapel during construction works. Thesite is currently closed to general admission until the building works are complete,in November 2018, however there will be a number of special access days to theChapel and Garden of Remembrance for local people during the works period.Funerals of veterans will be accommodated during the closure period, and accessfor visitors from far afield with special connections to the site will also beaccommodated where possible. The Garden of Remembrance is consecrated so cannotand will not be disturbed by the works.



We are aware ofcomments made about Bromley Council meetings. HLF is not accountable, orpresent, at Council meetings and any questions or concerns about these must beaddressed to the Council direct.

The new Museum will provide opportunity to ensure that the story of the AirCrew of Biggin Hill is shared with a much wider range of people than it is now.The project will also allow free independent public access to the Chapel tocontinue into the future, for longer hours than ever before. Further informationcan be found at http://www.bhmm.org.uk/faqs/



We would suggestthat you contact the Museum Trust directly to share your views with the projectteam. They can be contacted on [email protected].

Kind Regards,

Stuart Hobley

Head ofHeritage Lottery Fund, London