** Newsflash 5 March 2026 **
SYNAGOGUE LISTING UPHELD
Dear Friends,
We are writing to share important news.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that the appeal against the listing of our synagogue building has not succeeded. The decision of Historic England therefore stands, and our shul building will remain listed.
Many members of the community contributed time, research and energy to ensuring that the building’s history was properly understood during the listing process.
This is a significant moment for our community.
The listing recognises the national importance of the building, its extraordinary stained glass windows, and the synagogue’s founding vision as a memorial created in the shadow of the Holocaust. That history was central to the case for listing, and it has now been formally recognised at national level.
For many members, that will feel like an important affirmation. In recent years a growing number of people within the community have recognised and spoken up about the importance of this history and about the potential of the building as the foundation for a sustainable future.
It is also important to acknowledge the context in which this decision has been made.
Over a sustained period, the current synagogue leadership pursued an appeal against the listing and argued publicly and through national organisations that listing would be harmful to the future of the community. In doing so, the historical significance of the synagogue – including its origins as a Holocaust memorial – was repeatedly downplayed in order to support that argument *.
The government has now reached a different conclusion.
The national heritage authorities have determined that this history and this building are of enduring significance and should be protected.
That outcome changes the landscape for the future of the synagogue. It also raises a natural question for the community: if the national heritage authorities have concluded that the building’s history and significance are assets to be protected, what does that mean for the strategy that has been pursued locally over the past several years?
The strategy pursued by the Council has been centred on demolition and redevelopment of the site, and significant sums – well in excess of £250,000 – were spent exploring plans aligned with that approach. At the same time, proposals developed by members of the former Development Committee that explored a future based on restoring and building upon the existing synagogue were not taken forward and, at times, publicly dismissed.
Now that the listing has been confirmed, the community faces a clear question: how do we move forward from here?
Many members believe that the listing should be seen not as an obstacle but as an opportunity. The synagogue’s history, architecture and national recognition provide a powerful foundation for renewal – for imaginative redevelopment of the site, for fundraising and grant support, and for strengthening the synagogue’s role in the life of the city.
The Five-Year Vision proposal presented last year was an attempt to explore exactly that possibility. It was grounded in preservation, regeneration and the belief that the synagogue’s founding purpose is not a constraint but an extraordinary asset.
With the listing now confirmed, those ideas deserve serious and open consideration as per the resolution the community passed at the 2025 AGM. That community resolution has yet to be acted upon: to meet and discuss those proposals and, finally, act decisively on them. There is no longer any reason whatsoever to delay.
Moments like this inevitably prompt reflection about whether the assumptions that shaped earlier decisions still hold true.
It is also worth reflecting that during this period some members who raised alternative perspectives about the building’s future have felt marginalised and, in some cases, been actively excluded from participation. At a moment when the community most needed open discussion and collective energy, that has been a real and unnecessary loss for the community.
This moment also naturally invites reflection about leadership and direction. After such a decisive outcome, it is reasonable for members to ask whether the approach that has guided the synagogue’s strategy in recent years remains the right one for the future. As recently as last June in an article for Sussex Jewish News our vice chair, then President of the synagogue implied the building as having ‘very little merit’ and “for HE to determine that our building or its stained glass windows represent an important Holocaust memorial […] is plainly wrong”. Together with other shul council members, he has repeatedly challenged the very history which the national heritage authorities have now confirmed as central to the building’s significance. The very foundation on which the forward-looking future must now be built.
What should unite us now is the desire to ensure that our community thrives – rooted in its history, confident in its future, and open to the possibilities that this building represents.
This decision closes one chapter of the debate about the synagogue’s future. It opens another.
As always, we welcome your thoughts. Please feel free to share this letter and the news with others across the community.
Warm regards,
The Rosenblum Vision Group
* E.g.Michael Harris (then President of BHRS), page 22, Sussex Jewish News, Issue 363, June 2025