Update on Bishop's Palace

The Archbishops' Council has been called into the matter of the Palace of the Bishop of Bath and Wells

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The row over the Church Commissioner's decision to relocate the Bishop of Bath and Wells from his historic residence has now entered uncharted waters.

Last week, the Bishop's Council at Wells took the unprecedented step of formally objecting to the Church Commissioner's proposal that has so dismayed the local community in Somerset and beyond (Country Life, January 22 and February 12).

This means that the Archbishops' Council must now arbitrate in the case. ‘To do this will further insult those who have opposed the change locally,' comments John Goodall, Country Life's Architecture Editor. ‘It will also cement the impression that the Commissioners have established themselves as an unassailable power, taking decisions on matters of public concern without consultation and in private, and also that they are effectively unanswerable even to Parliament, the sole body with powers to scrutinise them.'

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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.