502 Places of worship receive £30million

Additional cash announced in the 2015 Budget doubles number of grants originally expected to be awarded

New £25million fund to open later this year

Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer named the first round of historic UK places of worship to benefit from a funding package of £30million to address urgent roof repairs through the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund.

Hundreds of parish churches across all four corners of the UK, from a variety of denominations, will now be made weathertight, safe and open for use. Grants are also being awarded to synagogues in Cheltenham and London and a Buddhist Centre in London.

A total of 502 places of worship will receive between £10,000 to £100,000 to meet the costs of urgent repairs to roofs and rainwater disposal systems. Money is also being provided for structural investigations; specialist reports and bat surveys.

Welcoming the news, The Rt Revd Dr John Inge, Bishop of Worcester and lead bishop for the Church of England’s cathedrals and church buildings, said: “The parish churches of our land are jewels in the crown of our national heritage. As such, though cared for by Church of England parishioners, they are everyone’s heritage and we are very grateful that this has been recognised by the Government through these grants for essential repairs. This will enable these wonderful buildings the better to be used to serve the communities at the heart of which they stand, now and in the future.”

Today’s grants have been awarded through the Government-funded Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund. The fund was launched by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in December 2015 with a budget of £15million. In his 2015 Budget speech the Chancellor announced a further commitment of £40million to the Fund. This new money brings the total funding package up to £55million.

Grants announced today account for £30million of the allocated funding. The Fund will reopen to new applications later this year and successful applicants will be announced in 2016. All those who were unsuccessful in today’s first round of awards will be able to reapply.

The Fund is administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) on behalf of the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

A full list of awards can be found at the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund website.

Notes to editors

Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund

The initial scheme is now closed but it is anticipated that it will reopen to new applications later this year.

It will be open to organisations, trusts and congregations of all faiths and denominations with the responsibility of looking after a listed place of worship. To be eligible for funding buildings will be required to be listed and used for public worship. Places of worship that have received a previous repair grant from English Heritage, Historic Scotland, Cadw, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the Heritage Lottery Fund and / or other Lottery distributor, and where that project is not yet finished, will not be eligible to apply.

The total funding package for the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund is £55million. This includes grant awards, a grant increase contingency fund and the cost of administering the fund.

More information on the new fund can be found at Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund website.

Further information

For further information, please contact Natasha Ley, NHMF Press Office, on tel: 020 7591 6143. Out of office hours mobile: 07973 613 820.