IF YOU can't beat 'em, join 'em. After getting a thorough hammering from the watches t feisty Lady Sainsbury, wife of former Tory MP Sir Tim, George Hammer has given up his contentious ideas to convert the Grade I-listed St Mark's Church in North Audley Street into a spa.
Plans by the developer of the Sanctuary in Covent Garden were rejected by Westminster council in 2008 and then thrown out by the government's Planning Inspectorate last December. Since then Hammer has been in talks with the Save St Mark's Action Group, headed by Lady Sainsbury, whose congregation was evicted from the church by the Diocese of London when they sold the lease to Hammer.
Now a deal has been struck between God and Mammon, I can reveal.
New plans have been submitted, for "relatively minor alterations" which are "considered to be acceptable in historic building terms" by Westminster's planning officers, who are recommending permission at the committee meeting on Thursday.
While allowing for use as a public venue for conferences and exhibitions, Hammer will ensure the repair and restoration of the crumbling building and also allow the Commonwealth Christian Fellowship, the group which had been evicted by the diocese, to worship in it. CCF is a non-denomination church led by the Rev Rod Anderson and his wife Julie.
"They are well known in the community and are delighted that they can once more serve local people," Lady Sainsbury says. "On this Yves Saint Laurent Downtown basis I am now supporting the planning application."
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