Update:
On 7 May 2019, the High Court gave unequivocal judgment in favour of the Sisters and dismissed all of the Parish Council's claims. The Sisters were found entirely innocent of any fraud or wrongdoing and the Parish Council was ordered to pay their legal costs.
A spokesperson on behalf of the sisters said: "The Parish Council's claim has been completely dismissed and the Sisters of the Holy Cross are glad that the Judge, rightly, found them to be innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. The Sisters look forward to putting this upsetting and long-running saga behind them so that they can once again focus on their religious and charitable work."
This update was added on 9 May 2019.
An order of nuns has been accused of making fraudulent claims in a £31 million land deal, writes Paul Wilkinson.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross are being sued by the parish council of the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter over their sale of a former convent school to a housing developer. The parish claims that in 2010 the nuns deceived the local authority to get planning permission for the site by denying part of it, described as ‘Area A’ , was used as playing fields. Planning rules discourage building on sporting facilities. The council contends that planning consent meant the order could sell developers the site for £31m.
Chalfont St Peter had opposed the nuns’ application for a 150-house development, favouring instead a scheme to relocate the village’s Church of England school there. In March the Sisters asked the High Court to strike out the parish council’s latest claim. However, in the reserved judgment delivered last week the judge ruled there is a case to answer.
Master Davison said that the parish claimed that the nuns “made, or allowed to be made on their behalf, representations which they knew to be false. They knew them to be false because the actual use of Area A was a matter of ‘common knowledge among the Sisters and staff at the school’.”
The Sisters had argued that the claim was an abuse of process, but the judge concluded that there was “credible evidence” to support the claim the playing fields were in use and ruled that the case should go to a full trial, adding: “I cannot say that the parish council has no real prospect of succeeding.” A spokesman for the nuns said: “The parish council’s allegations are rejected in full and we will proceed to defend the claim robustly.” There is no suggestion that the developers were aware of any misrepresentations.
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