A faculty was sought to replace half the benches in an unlisted Victorian church with chairs. The benches had been funded, stained and prepared by church members during a re-ordering of the church in 1989. The petition sought to facilitate work with the wider community through a playgroup and a service with a meal called ‘Space to Be’, both of which would be enhanced by the flexibility of movable chairs instead of benches. A donor of the original benches objected to the proposal on aesthetic grounds and argued that there had been insufficient consultation. The chancellor held that the test of reasonable necessity in facilitating the church's mission outweighed the aesthetic objection, given that the application related to an unlisted building. Similarly, with an unlisted building the requirements for consultation were more limited than for a listed building and consultation had been sufficient in this instance. However, it was necessary to recognise the earlier work done by church members when the benches were installed in 1989. Accordingly, the bench donated by the objector and her husband should be one of those retained. Plaques remembering the donors of the benches to be removed should be retained and displayed in the church, along with photographs to show what the church looked like prior to the re-ordering. [Catherine Shelley]