It is axiomatic that, as a general rule, where permission to appeal has been sought in respect of the dismissal of a petition, no further petitions concerning the church in question should be considered by the consistory court until that application has been determined and, if permission is granted, until judgment has been given in the subsequent substantive appeal. In this case, the petitioners had applied for permission to appeal a decision of the deputy chancellor and in the meantime brought a further petition. The chancellor had stayed the second petition, with liberty to apply to lift the stay; the petitioners had now made such an application.

The present petition (for an extension for lavatory facilities) was discrete from the petition under appeal (for the removal of pews), it was uncontroversial and it would be compromised by the loss of Lottery funding if delayed until the conclusion of the appeal. These were sufficient reasons to depart from the general norm, in the interests of justice. Accordingly, the stay would be lifted. [DW]