The chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield has announced his decision to retire.
His Honour Judge Marten Coates is the presiding judge of the Lichfield Consistory Court – which deals with issues such as obtaining planning permission for consecrated land – will leave his post on July 31.
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, said:
“Since 1997 Judge Coates has provided judgement on a wide range of matters, balancing the needs of churches to adapt to the 21st Century with the obligation to protect the nation’s built heritage and at times he has been called upon to exercise the wisdom of Solomon in decided how to reconcile the irreconcilable. I wish Marten well in his retirement.”
Judge Coates has been chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield since 2006 and Deputy Chancellor since 1997. He will also partly retire from his role as a Judge of the Midlands Circuit where he has heard many criminal cases at Warwick Crown Court.
The appointment of the next chancellor will be made by the Bishop of Lichfield in consultation with the Lord Chancellor, the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP, and the Dean of the Arches, the Worshipful Charles George QC, who is the presiding judge of Court of Arches – the ecclesiastical appeal court for the Province of Canterbury.