Scarborough Baptist Church, north of Perth, has been in a dispute with the City of Stirling, over a letter sent to the church earlier this year advising it would need to apply for approval to run certain activities in its building.

Several days after the year-long stoush was aired by mainstream media, the intricacies of the dispute have become clearer.

The activities in question include band practice, craft classes and trivia nights. The Council has asked the church to put forward an application for such activities, which must include a “management plan” to show how these activities would address the “real concerns of nearby residents”.

The letter, which Eternity has obtained, outlines City of Stirling’s planning scheme. The church sits within a residential zone and falls under “non-residential use”. Its activities therefore must be “compatible with and complementary to residential development”.

According to the letter, the Council deemed some of the Scarborough church’s activities are “not compatible with the surrounding residential area and its setting”. It states, “This is further exacerbated by the fact that there are no buffer zones in place separating the church site and the nearby residential area.”

The Council argues the church, classified as a Place of Worship must seek approval for any activity that does not bear a relationship to the predominant use of the site as a church, namely a “religious activity”. In keeping with this definition are, according to the City of Stirling: A regular Sunday morning church service, Bible studies, prayer sessions, carol singing and Christmas and New Year services.

Not included in the definition of religious activities are craft classes, band practice, Sunday meals for the community, dance classes, fetes, and quiz nights.

“Each of the incidental or ancillary uses are clearly non-residential uses in their own right, which appear to cause off site impacts affecting surrounding residents. This has been evidenced by the consistent complaints to the Council regarding the activities on the site,” says the City of Stirling’s letter.

The letter goes on to say that if the activities are not stopped within 60 days, the Council may initiate legal action.

City of Stirling’s manager for health and compliance, Peter Morrison, told Eternity today that any activity not generally considered religious in nature would need approval by the Council.

When asked about activities not listed as an “approved purpose”, like Easter services, weddings, funerals and worship nights involving music, Morrison said: “generally, those activities would fall under the existing approval of a Place of Worship”.

Scarborough Baptist Church’s senior pastor who is a lecturer at Perth Bible College, Dr Andre van Oudtshoorn, says the problems with the council arose when new neighbours moved into the area last year.

According to the Council, complaints have been raised about church activities including “noise, parking, and antisocial behavior”.

“The Sunday night service has been going on now for nine years,” says Oudtshoorn. “About 50 per cent of attendees are backpackers, coming from the city’s holiday strip. We get a few homeless people coming along and then others from our morning congregation.”

Oudtshoorn says in the nine years the service has been running, drunk people have shown up three times. They are asked to leave. And he says the Sunday night service finishes by 8.15pm every Sunday.

“When we asked the Council to come and measure the noise levels … no problems were found,” says Oudtshoorn.

In another instance, the church had discussions with the Council over health complaints caused by purported “dangerous chemicals” the church used in a carwash fundraising event. For that event, the church had sought, and was granted, prior approval by the Council.

“It seems like they [the council and neighbours] are trying to find things against the church – it borders on the absurd,” Oudtshoorn said.

Peter Morrison says there have been eight separate letters/emails of concern from four neighbouring residents about the church’s activities. Those residents submitted a petition to Council in September 2011 with 9 signatures.

But Morrison says, “Irrespective of the number of complaints received or the number of individual people who have complained – the City must investigate all complaints and in doing so has subsequently identified breaches in [the church’s] land use that need to be rectified…”

In a media statement this week, Morrison also said, “In all likelihood, many of the identified unauthorised activities would be approved but this cannot occur until such time as the Church makes an application for the City to consider.”

But for Oudtshoorn making an application to run what he calls “outreach events” within the Church building is out of the question.

“We don’t do anything in our church that we don’t consider a religious activity. We don’t do craft for craft’s sake. It’s an outreach event; a way of getting the church into the community,” he says.

“We wouldn’t be interested in running these events if they weren’t part of our faith. Of course the easiest thing would be to say ‘OK, we’ll ask for permission’. But the principle of what it may mean for the Church in the long run – it’s a deeply theological issue.”

Oudtshoorn says the church has not been presented with any evidence they have breached any by-laws. “This is an overreach by the Council that goes to the very heart of what the church is all about,” he says.

The Council, however, says the Scarborough Baptist Church has two permitted uses in its residential zoning: as a place of worship and as a child care premises.

“There is scope for additional community-purpose activities to be approved on that site. This is subject to an application to the City.”

It would appear The City of Stirling is making a distinction between “religious activities” and “community-purpose activities”.

Scarborough Baptist Church is seeking legal advice and will begin proceedings with the State Administrative Tribunal. They continue to run their church activities as normal.