Across the country, churches of all shapes and sizes are providing vital community services, says Baroness Twycross. But for many, the financial burden of maintaining their buildings is creating a crisis. She hopes that the government’s new Places of Worship Renewal Fund will help ease the pressure
Wherever you are in the country, you will find a local parish church. These are buildings that have served their local communities for many centuries and still play a vital role today. They are places of worship and fellowship, which so often go above and beyond in caring for the spiritual and physical wellbeing of their parishes, with many delivering debt advice or food parcels to those in need.
I am proud that as Heritage Minister my job is to help protect a great variety of faith buildings, spanning cathedrals to mosques, temples and synagogues. The vast majority of our country’s 14,000 listed places of worship are found in towns and villages across England’s intricate patchwork of local parishes. These are often the oldest buildings in the area, making it no mean feat to care for these heritage buildings.
In my local area we have a great variety of different churches, from Norman towers to Victorian red brick buildings. What these parish churches have in common, however, is the dedicated staff and volunteers who make sure that their doors are kept open. I am hugely grateful for the work involved in making sure that happens. Members of my own family have been involved in fundraising for their local churches and I know that to reach often steep targets takes a huge amount of effort and time.
A new grant fund
I have just announced the opening of a new £92 million Places of Worship Renewal Fund, supporting all types of churches with the challenge of paying for maintenance and repair work. We want to keep our church roofs watertight and the doors wide open.
Previously churches had access to the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme, which only allowed churches to reclaim VAT on works they had already paid for. This left churches that struggled to fundraise for the majority of the repair costs without proper support.
My department has heard from churches across the country that find it impossible to raise the great sums of money needed for high quality heritage repairs. This is making urgent repairs and maintenance impossible for some. I want to remove that barrier for those churches in the greatest need.
Places of worship so often go above and beyond in caring for the spiritual and physical wellbeing of their parishes
Our new scheme brings listed places of worship in line with the opportunities that other heritage buildings benefit from. Churches will be able to apply for grants to cover the capital costs of their maintenance and repair work upfront, before work starts, giving churches important support for their capital projects.
We know that repairs to the structures of heritage buildings are expensive. We know that fundraising for this amount of capital upfront is a huge challenge. That’s why we’re stepping in to support churches and kick-start projects that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.
Meeting the needs
With the pot of funding we have, we believe we should target those areas and buildings that are most in need of support - whether that is for critical repairs to our most historic buildings or areas with the highest level of deprivation.
It is inspiring to see the fantastic results of our other heritage funding schemes, like the Heritage at Risk Capital Fund. Last year, this provided urgent funds to some of our nation’s most vulnerable heritage sites to help transform them for the modern age, and keep them serving their communities. We’ve already seen Salford Lads Club reborn for a new generation in Manchester, and the Winter Gardens concert hall in Morecambe get repairs to keep it welcoming visitors from near and far.
We want to keep our church roofs watertight and the doors wide open
The Heritage at Risk Capital Fund and the Places of Worship Renewal Fund are now both open for applications too and I’m proud that both will keep a focus on protecting the most vulnerable heritage sites so that they can continue serving their local areas.
To me, the defining feature of so many places of worship is their contribution to local communities and how they are always there to help those in need. Through our new funding scheme we will ensure the Government is there to help places of worship, too.
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