Hackney Council has become the fourth London local authority to allow same sex civil partnerships in religious buildings.
The council licensed Newington Green Unitarian Church after confirming the chapel had met the required health and safety standards.
Councils aren’t obliged to conduct health and safety checks for venues that want to host civil partnerships if they are already licensed for weddings. But an inspection by the Fire Authority on 30 October insisted that the church needed to install new fire doors, lights and alarms.
Derek McAuley, Chief Officer of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, has overseen a number of applications and told the Hackney Post: “We feel many local authorities are not adhering to the spirit of the law change, they’re adhering to the letter. Our major complaint is to register premises for weddings it costs £150, for a civil partnership license it can cost one, two or three thousand pounds.”
Hackney Council pointed to the fact it only charged Newington Green Unitarian £250 as a sign of its good faith.
The congregation lit a candle at their Sunday morning service to symbolise their hope that the license would be granted. Their prayer was answered by Julia Campbell, Senior Ceremonies Officer at Hackney Council, in an email to the church which read: “We’re very pleased for you and look forward to registering civil partnerships at the church.”
The Reverend Andy Pakula, Minister of the Church, was “delighted” about the news but was frustrated by the drawn out process of obtaining a license and the continuing “injustice that different standards are applied for marriages and civil partnerships.”
In December 2011 it became legal to host civil partnerships in religious buildings. Mr Pakula applied to the council for a license in February 2012 but the church was refused on health and safety grounds, despite already being cleared to host weddings.
The change is in line with the church’s revolutionary history as the oldest non-conformist church in London. Early worshipers to Newington Green Unitarian included feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher Richard Price.
Since 2008, the Church has refused to host weddings until it could also hold civil partnerships – the only congregation in the UK to do so.
