The Church of England has said that 37 of its churches have been awarded a combined total of over £13 million under the government’s new Places of Worship Renewal Fund (PWRF).
The PWRF was established following the decision, taken under Sir Keir Starmer, to first cut and then abolish the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS), established during Gordon Brown’s time as chancellor.
One of the key differences between the schemes, aside from the size of the budget, is that under the old scheme historic churches were exempted from paying VAT on repairs.
At the time of the announced change the National Churches Trust (NCT) said it “is likely to mean that projects are cancelled or scaled back, leading to more churches being at risk of closure and further damage to historic buildings”.
After the first round of funding for the new scheme was announced the Church of England’s lead bishop for buildings, Andrew Rumsey, said he was “very glad” for those historic churches which had secured funding, but added that he was “conscious” of the fact that many churches had not received the support they are seeking.
He said, “These grants, to churches in areas of considerable need, will help pay for fabric repairs that enable worship, missional and social action to continue in our communities.
"They will relieve some of the fundraising burden felt by heroic local volunteers who care for our country’s built heritage."
Illustrating the scale of funding required to maintain a historic church, of the 37 Church of England churches that received funding, the majority received six figure sums, with some approaching the million mark.
The smallest grant was £24,870, awarded to Church of All Saints, Weymouth, in the Diocese of Salisbury. The largest grant was £973,632, which was awarded to the Church of St Catherine of Siena, in the Diocese of Sheffield.
While the majority of grants and funds went to Church of England churches - 37 out of 51 grants, amounting to £13m out of the £18m available - other beneficiaries include a pair of Catholic churches in Liverpool, a synagogue in Grimsby and the Primitive Methodist Church in St Ives.
The government’s heritage minister, Baroness Twycross said, “Nothing tells the stories of our nation quite like the historic buildings at the heart of our communities. But too often they are a far cry from their former glory with leaking roofs and crumbling stonework.
“Thanks to this funding, the much loved buildings that fill our hometowns with character will be keeping the doors open to communities for years to come.”
