English Heritage Inspires Nation to Help Historic Places of Worship

New Figure For Total Cost of Repairing All England's Listed Places of Worship and First Strategic Attempt to Tackle Problem

Inspired!, an English Heritage campaign launched today and supported by all the faith groups with listed places of worship in England, reveals the full extent of the threat facing our historic places of worship and sets out proposals to help solve the problem. It estimates that the cost of repairing all of England's listed places of worship is £925 million over the next five years, or £185 million a year. This exceeds the amount raised by congregations by approximately £118 million a year. Grants available from English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources currently total only £40m and the Government cannot be expected to meet the remaining shortfall.

Survey after survey shows that the vast majority of us, not just churchgoers, care deeply about our historic places of worship. However, it is also a fact that congregations are decreasing in size, repair costs are rising and the amount of money English Heritage can offer is falling in real terms.

Inspired! provides a five-point plan, the most ambitious and strategic attempt yet to tackle this problem head-on.
Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said: “This campaign is about understanding the problem and taking action before we reach the crisis that is otherwise approaching, not this year, not even next year, but in the very near future.

“£118 million is a staggering annual shortfall which we cannot realistically expect the Government to pay for. Instead we are asking Government for a total of £26.52m (£8.84m a year for three years) to shrink the problem by:

re-writing out-dated list descriptions for all 4,200 grade I places of worship as part of the current reform of heritage protection which will make it simpler to adapt the buildings to the needs of their congregations and communities in the 21st century.

• helping congregations to help themselves by appointing Historic Places of Worship Support Officers to provide expertise;
• creating a “Maintenance Grants” scheme to shrink repair bills in the longer term;
• continuing the English Heritage/Heritage Lottery Fund Repair Grants Scheme for Places of Worship and augmenting it with a new “Small Grants” scheme; and
• making sure the safety nets are in place for redundant places of worship, including campaigning for adequate Government money for the Churches Conservation Trust.”

He continued: “You may not be a regular worshipper but imagine your village or town without its places of worship. With pubs and post offices disappearing and social problems growing, these buildings often provide the only remaining physical, cultural and spiritual focus for a community.”

As well as describing what English Heritage is going to do, Inspired! also sets out what the Government, the central bodies of the denominations and faiths, and also the public can do to help struggling congregations who currently shoulder almost the entire burden of keeping the country's historic churches intact.

What the Government can do

English Heritage was pleased by the Chancellor's decision, in the recent Budget, to extend the scheme which returns VAT on repairs to listed places of worship for a further three years, an encouraging sign that the Government cares about England's heritage of religious buildings. However, it is not a permanent solution. English Heritage is urging the Chancellor to support its call for a total package of £26.52m (£8.84m a year for three years) to fund Support Officers, training programmes, maintenance and small repair grants and to enable us to re-write out-dated list descriptions for all grade I listed places of worship.

What the denominations and faiths can do

English Heritage is calling on the denominations and faiths to see their historic buildings as real assets to their core mission, rather than as expendable burdens, and to use their beauty and spirituality to practical advantage in the community. There are some excellent examples of good practice throughout all the denominations and faiths, but we are urging them to take an even greater strategic and supportive role in managing their historic places of worship wherever possible, rather than relying on heroic but under-resourced individual congregations to do it themselves.

What the public can do

Anyone who cares about the future of these buildings as part of our heritage needs to get involved and find out how they can help their local place of worship. This might mean making a “covenant”, offering time or expertise, creating or joining a Friends group, donating to one of the national charities that care for places of worship or supporting one of the 31 local County Historic Churches Trusts which aim to develop interest in places of worship.

Sponsorship

Inspired! is sponsored by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group.
Ecclesiastical is the UK's leading insurer of church property and an insurer of many historic buildings. Ian Wainwright, Ecclesiastical's chief surveyor, said: “Protecting heritage has been our business since we were founded and it continues to be our inspiration. Those responsible for looking after our heritage need more than just an insurance policy. They need advice, guidance and expert knowledge. We're here to give just that. So we're also enthusiastic about supporting Inspired! and hope that it rallies even more much-needed support.”

For a free copy of the Inspired! campaign booklet, please contact: English Heritage Customer Services 0870 3331181 customers@english-heritage.org.uk

ENGLISH HERITAGE / HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND 2006 REPAIR GRANTS FOR GRADE II PLACES OF WORSHIP ANNOUNCED
English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund also announced today (10 May 2006) their joint annual repair grants for grade II places of worship in England. Holy Trinity Stroud in Gloucestershire, Assemblies of the First Born Pentecostal Church in Birmingham and Higher Crumpsall & Higher Broughton Synagogue in Salford, Manchester are just three of the 65 buildings set to benefit from a £7 million package. This follows the £17.5 million awarded by the scheme in March to grade I and II* places of worship. The Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme was launched by the two organisations in 2002. So far it has awarded £89.8 million to more than 1,000 buildings struggling to cope with the ravages of time.