The designation by a pastoral scheme as a parish church of a building which immediately before the scheme comes into operation is not a parish church shall not take effect unless and until it has been approved by the bishop, after consultation with the diocesan advisory committee and the mission and pastoral committee, as suitable to be a parish church and, if necessary, the building has been consecrated.

If the area of a parish is altered by a pastoral scheme but no provision with respect to the churches in that area is made by the scheme, every church in that area shall have the same status on and after the date on which the scheme comes into operation as it had immediately before that date.

Where, in a parish which has no parish church, a church is approved by the bishop, after consultation with the diocesan advisory committee and the mission and pastoral committee as suitable to be a parish church and is consecrated, it shall become the parish church of that parish.

It shall be lawful in any church designated by a pastoral scheme as a parish church or becoming a parish church under this section, to publish banns of matrimony, solemnize marriages and perform all other such ecclesiastical offices as may be performed in a parish church.

A pastoral scheme may provide for determining claims to sittings and other claims in respect of a church designated by a pastoral scheme as a parish church or becoming a parish church under this section.

A pastoral scheme may provide for transferring to a church designated by such a scheme as a parish church or becoming a parish church under this section register books or records from any other church ceasing to be a parish church or otherwise affected by or in pursuance of that or any other pastoral scheme or for those books or records to be dealt with as the bishop of the diocese in which that other church is may direct under section 19 of the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978 (1978 No. 2).

In this subsection “register books” and “records” have respectively the same meanings as in that Measure.

A declaration of closure for regular public worship may be made in respect of a parish church notwithstanding that the parish will have no parish church when the declaration takes effect, and the status of the parish shall not be affected by the lack of a parish church.

As from the date when a declaration of closure for regular public worship takes effect in respect of the whole of a church, the church shall be closed for public worship except as may be provided under Part 6.

Where a parish has no church, the bishop shall make provision for public worship according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England by licensing one or more buildings or parts of buildings for public worship.

Where a church, building or part of a building in a parish has been so designated and the parish has no parish church, then, if the persons to be married so elect, they may proceed under sections 6 and 15 of the Marriage Act 1949 (which contain provisions whereby parishes in which there is no parish church are deemed to belong to adjoining parishes) as if the church, building or part had not been so designated; and this subsection shall have effect notwithstanding that there is in the parish a church or chapel licensed for marriages or a church or chapel in which divine service is usually solemnized every Sunday.

A building or part of a building so designated shall not by virtue only of the designation be subject to the faculty jurisdiction, but without prejudice to the power of the bishop under section 6 of the Faculty Jurisdiction Measure 1964 (1964 No. 5) to direct that it shall be so subject.

A designation under this section may be revoked by the bishop, but without prejudice to the continuation in force of any licence thereunder, if the bishop thinks fit.

Any such designation or revocation shall be under seal and shall be registered in the registry of the diocese, and the registrar of the diocese shall give public notice of the designation or revocation in one or more newspapers circulating in the locality.

Subsection (1) shall not apply to a churchyard or other land annexed or belonging to a church to which a declaration of closure for regular public worship relates unless the scheme by which provision was made for the use, the care and maintenance, the vesting in the diocesan board of finance or the demolition of the church contained no provision for dealing with the land which is to be the subject of the proposed scheme.

In the case of a churchyard or other land annexed or belonging to a church or a burial ground adjacent to a church, the pastoral scheme shall make such provision as appears to the bishop and the Commissioners to be desirable for safeguarding the use and amenities of the church or to be necessary for preserving a right of access to any grave in that land or burial ground.

Any scheme providing for the matters referred to in this section may also make provision for the vesting of the property and for applying in relation thereto, with such modifications as may be specified in the scheme, any of the provisions of Part 6 relating to the appropriation, disposal and vesting of property, rights of way and other easements, the removal of the legal effects of consecration and the imposing of covenants; and the provisions of Part 6 relating to the disposal of human remains shall apply to the property.

In this section “burial ground” means any land set apart and consecrated for the purpose of burials whether or not burials have taken place in the land.

The power under paragraph (a) or (b) of the preceding subsection to designate a house as the place of residence of an incumbent or a vicar in a team ministry shall be without prejudice to the subsequent exercise of any power to dispose of the house or to the subsequent exercise by the bishop of any power he may have to give directions as to the place where the incumbent or vicar is to reside.

Where in exercise of the power under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) a parsonage house or part thereof is to be transferred to the diocesan board of finance, but any land held with that house is not to be so transferred, the pastoral scheme which provides for the transfer may also provide that that land shall be deemed to be parsonage land for the purposes of the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 (1976 No. 4).

In this section “diocesan glebe land” and “parsonage land” have the same meanings respectively as in that Measure.