Shrewsbury church where Darwin worshipped says debris from Rackhams building is damaging its windows
A historic Shrewsbury church wants to add protective guards to windows it says are being damaged by debris from the neighbouring former Rackhams building.
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Shrewsbury's Unitarian Church, based on High Street in the town, has applied to Shropshire Council for listed building consent to add the protective covers to some of its windows.
The church, which was founded in 1662, is Grade II listed. It was where Charles Darwin worshipped as a child.
The application explains that meeting hall windows on the roof are currently at risk of being damaged.
A design and access statement submitted with the application says: "The north and south elevations of the meeting halls have three windows on each side, the middle window being in triptych form, with a narrow pane on each side.
"These are cast iron frames, and are in good decorative order.
"The windows have been damaged by falling debris and roof covering material off the adjacent Rackham building.
"It is essential to permanently protect the windows from any further damage; access to the flat roof area between the church and Rackham’s is particularly difficult, as the only access is through the store and via a very small external door on the first floor.
"The proposal is to repair any damage in the clear glazing in the main window (like for like) and erect clear 6mm thick UV protected polycarbonate protection guards on the windows on the South side of the building: these are sheltered (only visible and accessible from Rackham’s flat roof) and any unpleasant blind look will not be apparent."
The Rackhams building, which later became House of Fraser, has been empty since it closed in 2019.
A decision on the application will be taken at a later date.
Meanwhile, drivers can expect more M54 disruption with two slip road closures planned for next month.
National Highways has published advance notice of the closures, which both affect slip roads at Junction 4 for Telford Services, Shifnal, and Priorslee.
The county's busiest road has been subject to a host of work from last month and it is not scheduled to finish until April 21.
That work has taken place over weekends with a number of diversions while there have been closures of either the east or westbound carriageway.
It has now been confirmed that there will be closures of the slip road leading from the eastbound carriage way at Junction 4, and the slip road leading from the westbound stretch.
The closures are to allow workers to repaint white lines on both routes, and carry out "essential carriageway remedial repairs".
The routes will be closed from 8pm on Wednesday, April 23, through to 6am the following morning.
Diversion routes will be in place via Junction 3 of the M54, the A41 and the A5 Watling Street for the eastbound exit slip road and via Junction 5 of the M54 and the A5 Rampant Way for the westbound exit slip road.
Both routes will be signposted.
