Cathedral publishes draft Master Plan feedback

Salisbury Cathedral has published details of responses to its draft Master Plan public consultation, which invited views on a range of ideas designed to improve the experience of visiting, studying and worshipping at the Cathedral for the next fifty years and beyond.

Popular ideas presented in the consultation included increased access to the Cathedral’s library and archive, which contain many rare, historic books, documents and artefacts; improved access in the Cathedral Close; and the development of the current Works Yard, which was viewed as an integral part of the Cathedral’s life, offering great potential as an educational and visitor facility for the sharing of heritage skills such as stone masonry and stained glass work.

Around 2000 people took part in the consultation which ran for six months and included contributions from local residents, congregation, Cathedral personnel, Cathedral School parents and alumni, local businesses and business groups and numerous other stakeholders.

Jackie Molnar, Executive Director and Chapter Clerk, Salisbury Cathedral, said,  “The consultation process and feedback showed how much the Cathedral means to so many people within the City and further afield, and as we consider our plans for the coming decades it was therefore very important to us that as many people as possible had an opportunity to contribute.

“Our report is a summary of what we heard during the consultation and we are enormously grateful for everyone’s involvement. We’ve worked hard to understand all the comments and sought to reflect views and opinions as accurately as possible.”

Recognising the strength of feeling expressed towards the future uses of the Bishop’s Palace, and in particular the view that the Cathedral School should remain in the building, Chapter has already given assurance to the School’s governors and parents that it has no plans to change the School’s occupation of the Palace. 

All responses and comments will now inform the next version of the Master Plan, which will be submitted to Wiltshire Council later this summer. Wiltshire Council will then conduct its own consultation on the proposals and any subsequent plans will also be subject to standard planning procedures which are likely to include further consultation.

The full document is available on the Cathedral’s website www.bit.ly/master-plan.