BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 31st ANNUAL EDITION 5 THE ASSOCIATION OF FESTIVAL CHURCHES LISTED PLACES OF WORSHIP GRANT SCHEME – 2001–2025? The Listed Places of Worship (LPW) Grant Scheme, established in 2001, is currently in place until March 2025, but its future beyond that date is uncertain as the government is currently looking at reducing expenditure in many areas. Under the scheme, grants are awarded to cover VAT on any repairs to listed buildings throughout the UK that are used as places of worship. The focus of the funding, run by DCMS, is to help with the conservation of our ecclesiastical heritage, which includes many of the UK’s most important historic buildings. (Indeed, 45% of all Grade I-listed buildings are churches.) Last year over 5,000 buildings received a share of £42 million of government funding. The grants have helped towards the costs of repairs of a range of listed buildings both large and small, and have been an invaluable source of funding for many. This includes 11th-century Chichester Cathedral which received more than £195,000 for roof and lighting projects, a new alarm system and organ repair and maintenance. A smaller grant awarded to St Mary’s Church in Hitchin allowed the team to pay for £5,000 of work on their church bells. Other grants awarded to them previously have helped replace crumbling stonework, repair leaking roofs and gutters, and have contributed to the installation of a roof alarm. To help save this critical grant scheme, people of all denominations are invited to use a form on the website of the Catholic Church – see www.cbcew.org.uk/listedWhere a church or chapel is facing redundancy but is valued by the local community, a soft option introduced by the Church of England is to limit church services to key religious events only. These would include Christmas, Easter and remembrance day services, the harvest festival, weddings, baptisms and funerals among others. (Interestingly, to qualify as a place of worship for the LPW Grant scheme above, only six services need to be held per year.) No regular weekly services are held, but the building must be made available to the wider community for secular events too. The aim is to spread support for the care and maintenance of the building beyond the congregation alone. A new organisation has recently been established to advise and support everyone involved. The Chair of the Association is Sir Tony Baldry, and Nigel Mills has recently been appointed as the Festival Churches Development Officer. Their website, www.festivalchurches.org.uk, provides a few case studies which will be of interest to anyone considering this option, and more information is being added. Chichester Cathedral is one of hundreds of places of worship which have benefited from the LPW Grant Scheme to reduce the cost of repair works, inside and out. (Top photos: Chichester Cathedral. Bottom photo: Ash Mills) places-of-worship-grant-scheme/. (The first step involves submitting your name and postcode so it can generate an email addressed to your local MP.) The email, which may be edited by you, asks your MP to relay your concerns with Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and asking her to renew the LPW Grant Scheme.
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