Alice Higgins writes in The Hills and Valley Messenger:
Happy Valley Brethren fight steps up
The Hills and Valley Messenger
Alice Higgins
February 28th, 2011WORRIED: Locals Bill Coady, Stewart Diggens and Lyle Thomson are concerned that a new development will cause traffic congestion in their high fire-risk neighbourhood. Pic: Keryn Stevens.
Happy Valley residents living in a high bushfire-risk area are ramping up their fight against plans to convert a Romney Rd home into a place of worship.
The residents fear the Exclusive Brethren development would bring more traffic into Romney Rd and block the only exit route out of the area in the case of emergency.
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Residents voice anger at “alien” evangelical group
The Northern Echo
Gavin Engelbrecht
Feb 18th, 2011
A strict evangelical group that believes in keeping itself separate from others has been granted permission to open a gospel hall, despite a storm of protests from locals.
Residents have objected to what they regard as the imposition of an “alien” influence on the community of Chester Moor, near Chester-le-Street.
The Protestants, who have a worldwide membership, follow a rigid code based on the Bible and believe in a strong family unit.
They also believe members must keep away from anyone who does not share their teaching, including other Christians.
The area planning committee, meeting in Consett yesterday, was told 37 letters of objection had been received about the planned hall, which is 80m from East Avenue.
Chester Moor Community Association secretary Susan Lawrence told members she had carried out her “own sound” test and found a car door closing at the proposed site of the church could be heard in the village.
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Noise and traffic concerns in Northern England
Spare a sympathetic thought or two for the residents of Chester Moor in Northern England. Their council recently approved the ‘conversion’ (strange word to apply in relation to the Exclusive Brethren) of stables and a workshop to one of their fictitious ‘gospel halls’. As those who know the Exclusive Brethren are aware, this is a complete misnomer and only used in planning applications when describing one of their Meeting Rooms.
Objectors pointed out that there is already a Cat Rescue Centre in the town and one therefore assumes that the concept to some of increased caterwauling at 6:00am on a Sunday morning was a horrific thought even if the cult members insist it is with ‘purely human voice’.
The relationship between the Exclusive Brethren cult and animals is not a happy one. In the early 1960′s the then cult leader James ‘Big Jim’ Taylor, Jr decreed that cult members were not to have pets. Thousands were euthanized. The ban on pets remains to this day.
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An unhappy future in store? A building earmarked for 'conversion' to an Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room
Yet more neighborhood rumblings from Australia. The Exclusive Brethren are trying to elbow their way into yet another quiet neighborhood, this time in Happy Valley, a suburb of Adelaide.
The Exclusive Brethren religious group is continuing its southern suburbs expansion with plans to add a second Happy Valley development to its property portfolio by converting a home on the corner of Romney and Chandlers Hill roads.
The group has lodged plans with Onkaparinga Council for the centre, which include a foyer, toilets, storage and meeting rooms, to be used by up to eight families on Sunday mornings and Monday nights for a maximum of 90 minutes at a time.
Some nearby residents were concerned about the on parking and traffic.
One, who declined to be named, letterboxed 145 residents and encouraged them to contact the council.
“Romney Rd is our only escape if there’s a fire or the area needs to be evacuated, so if the Brethren happen to be having a meeting and they’re parked down Romney Rd, it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” she said.
The neighbour also was worried the Brethren would expand the centre by buying two neighbouring properties that were for sale.
“If the Brethren decided to buy those two houses, plus the council park (behind one of the properties), it’s only a matter of time before they squeeze out that other property in between and have that whole area.”
Brethren spokesman Bob Lawrence said the group did not have any plans to expand to neighbouring properties and the development would not cause traffic disruptions.
“There won’t be streets cluttered with parking, they’ll be driving up the street and on to the property,” he said.
Another neighbour, who also declined to be named, said he would “kick up a big stink” if the group parked their cars on the street.
The development application, lodged by the Laught Avenue and Leader Avenue Gospel Trust, said the development would be “strategically positioned” and would not result in “any significant impact on the adjacent road network”.
“The Brethren have a long history of conducting quiet and respectful worship activities in intensely developed inner residential areas,” the trust said.
The application will be reviewed by council’s development assessment panel in December or January.
In 2007, the Hills & Valley Messenger reported the group was undergoing a massive expansion in the south, buying up millions of dollars worth of property, including a $2.2 million complex, in nearby Education Rd.
Mr Lawrence, meanwhile, said work on a $2 million Aberfoyle Park school, reported in the Hills & Valley Messenger last year, was on track to finish next year.
Read the full article: http://hills-and-valley-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/brethren-to-expand-in-happy-valley/
The 1st Exclusive Brethren pub
It appears that after leaving the Lynton Tavern empty for months, the Exclusive Brethren are possibly considering a deal that might enable the unhappy residents of Weeping Cross, Staffordshire, UK to get their pub back. Whether their decision is based on the difficulty of bricking up all the windows on the building is not clear. What is apparent is that they are increasingly anxious to move.
The following Express and Star news item refers to some work that has started in converting the pub to a cult Meeting Room. The level of alteration and changes are not specified, but knowing the Exclusive Brethren love for alcohol, some might expect that the bar would remain intact.
The Weeping Cross community initially set up a Facebook-based effort to try and save the pub, but failed when the Exclusive Brethren pulled out their favorite trick – their checkbooks. The wealthy cult obviously now feels that they have a bargaining chip and perhaps the residents of this small Staffordshire community will benefit after all.
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