Chester Cathedral plan ‘not set in stone’

May 5 2011 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

WORKMEN have laid stone setts over the grass outside Chester cathedral but don’t panic – they’re just sample panels.

There was a community backlash when Cheshire West and Chester Council submitted £2m plans to replace grass by the war memorial with granite setts, forcing a rethink.

Now two sample panels have been laid on the grass as part of the development of revised plans to give a impression of what the setts would like in situ.

Council spokesman Ian Callister said: “Two sample panels have been laid in the cathedral grounds to enable English Heritage and the council’s conservation and landscape teams to decide on issues of material, colour and design.

“They will display the reddish tones of porphyry – used to great effect at the Groves – and a light-grey Granite, in designs depicting overlapping arches and fantails.

“Once choices have been made, they will be incorporated in the new planning application.”

Cathedral press officer Nick Fry says the position of the sample panels is “not a reflection of their eventual location” but there is bound to be speculation that the plan to pave over the grass has not changed.

Mr Fry said: “We wanted the materials in situ so we can see what they look like in real life in everything from bright sunlight to a storm when they have been rained upon and got wet.”