In 2019 the community and congregation came together and fundraised for the modernisation of Holy Trinity. Since then, the PCC has been working to agree the best facilities within an affordable budget that will equip the church building for the future. The discussions have centred around the provision of toilets, kitchen equipment, and storage. All with the mission in mind to create an inclusive, safe, and accessible space to worship and meet across all ages.

Holy Trinity, Plaistow is a beautiful and historic building built in the 19th century. Such rich history means it is a heavily protected building with restrictions and permissions that need to be met before change and re-ordering can take place. In addition, the fabric of the church must be respected and remain architecturally appropriate.

Towards the end of 2024 we submitted the proposals to Chichester Planning Department for pre-application advice and guidance.  This was basically a simplified version of what will comprise the formal Planning Application, designed to informally check the proposals with the various consultees that will be asked to comment on the scheme, when formally submitted.  We received some suggestions about the form and appearance of the proposed annexe and subsequently asked our architect to develop an alternative proposal that might be more acceptable, which has been done.

One of the aspects on which a decision is needed is that of heating and lighting the church in the future, in particular the replacement of the old and inefficient oil-fired heating system.  We are encouraged by the Church authorities to look at a sustainable solution to the heating design.  We are seeking independent advice on heating, power and lighting systems to ensure that all options can be considered.  One of the options we are looking at is infra-red heating and LCD lighting, which seems to be a very economical system to run. 

We intend to press on with the formal Planning Application in the Spring of 2025.  This process is likely to take 2 to 3 months and once Planning Permission is in place we will be able to progress to the next stage, which is to petition for a Faculty with the Diocese.  We hope that this will be a relatively straightforward process, as we have had two quite favourable visits from members of the DAC (Diocesan Advisory Committee) and they are familiar with our intentions. Nevertheless, this process will, again, take time.  Once we are confident that the plan is feasible and acceptable, we will resume fund-raising in earnest, including applications for any available grants.

It is planned to issue invitations to tenders for the work during the Autumn with a view to the actual works being commissioned possibly early in 2026.