East Midlands

Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage Announce £445,000 of Repair Grants for Grade II Listed Places of Worship

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and English Heritage (EH) have today announced a package of grants worth £445,000 for essential repairs to Grade II listed churches and chapels across the East Midlands. The grants are for three Derbyshire and two Lincolnshire historic places of worship which have served their ever-changing communities through the centuries.

The largest grant is for the Church of St Paul, Chester Green, Derby, contributing £140,000 towards reslating the roof and repair of the leadworks, rooflights, drainage and guttering. The church houses an organ reputed to be the oldest 'great' organ in Derby, installed in 1865.

The Church of St James in Codnor, Derbyshire will use £68,000 for repairs including reslating the Nave roof and masonry repairs.

Christ Church in Ironville has been offered £84,000 for work include reslating the nave and associated timberwork repairs

In Lincolnshire the Church of St Lawrence in Fulstow will receive £46,000 to reslate the nave and roof slopes alongside drainage and guttering work. The Church of All Saints, Wainfleet All Saints will receive £107,000 to reslate part of the nave roof with improvements to ground drainage and renewal and repair of water damaged plaster ceiling panels.

Since 2002 more than £133m in essential repair grants has been awarded to almost 1,500 historic places of worship through the joint Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme, which is the largest single funding source for work of this kind.

Sara Croft, HLF East Midlands Committee Member, said:

"These churches across the East Midlands are extremely important to local people. In addition to their religious significance and the character that they add to towns and villages, these are living buildings which often host a diverse range of activities, from martial arts classes to mother and toddler groups. The joint Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage scheme makes a significant difference to the long-term prospects of these crucial buildings."

Dr Anthony Streeten, Regional Director for English Heritage in the East Midlands, said, "Churches and chapels across the East Midlands are the spiritual, communal and historic backbone of our villages, towns and cities. English Heritage is once again proud to be supporting the repair of important historic buildings. Repair Grants for Places of Worship are intended to ensure that these valuable parts of our heritage remain in use by the communities that enjoy them."

An Ongoing and Urgent Task
The Church of England currently spends £120m a year on repairs but according to English Heritage research published as part of the Inspired! Campaign which was launched in 2006 the backlog repair bill for all listed places of worship in England is an estimated £925m over the next five years, or £185m a year. Inspired! identified the need for additional investment from Government and the denominations to help congregations look after their buildings.

Find Funded Places of Worship to Visit Online
One of the conditions of the Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme is that the public should have a right to see those buildings which have benefited from this public money. Prospective visitors can now search on the English Heritage website for details of how to visit places of worship whose repairs have been grant-aided under the scheme. The list can be found at:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.17628

[ENDS]

For more press information please contact Helen Clarke at COI News and PR on 0115 9712787

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England Scheme is jointly funded by English Heritage (EH) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The scheme is administered by EH on behalf of both organisations.

In 1996, an HLF scheme was set up in partnership with EH to repair places of worship of all faiths. Before then it was difficult to secure funding on the scale required to help a place of worship facing closure or demolition because of high repair costs, especially those listed Grade II. In 2006-2007 HLF and EH gave out joint funding totalling £23.5m to 225 places of worship. HLF and EH's most recent round of grants in March 2008 announced £15,067,355 to support urgent conservation work in 160 Grade I and II* listed places of worship across England.

To search the list of places of worship that have been repaired, please visit http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.17628.

A copy of the application pack for Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England 2008-2009 is available from the HLF website http://www.hlf.org.uk or from the EH website http://www.english-heritage.org.uk

All grant enquiries should be directed to EH Regional Offices or EH Customer Services on 0870 333 1181.

Listed places of worship in England of all denominations are eligible to apply for a grant under the Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme. The programme supports urgent repairs to the fabric of listed places of worship and priority is given to single repair projects costing less than £200,000. There is a two stage application process with development funding available after Stage 1 to help work up proposals.

Grants for Grade I and II* listed places of worship were announced earlier in the year.

Heritage Lottery Fund
HLF enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation's heritage for everyone to enjoy. They have supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4billion across the UK. Since 1994, HLF has awarded £309m to 2,800 places of worship of all faiths.

For further information, please contact Helen Clarke, COI News and PR

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF ENGLISH HERITAGE BY COI NEWS AND PR EAST MIDLANDS

NEWS RELEASE

COI ref 162988P