We are nothing without our heritage and its vital we preserve it.
Nothing perhaps encapsulates the UK’s heritage more than our historic places of worship. Church buildings form a vital part of the identity of Britain’s landscapes and townscapes. They are the visual centre for tens of thousands of communities.
In addition to their architectural significance, cathedrals, churches and chapels form the nation’s largest art collections, including sculpture, stained glass, wall paintings, woodwork, metalwork and vernacular art.
We must safeguard the future of some of our most important local heritage – and that’s where the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme comes in.
Since 2001, the scheme has supported 13,000 places of worship, preserving them for generations to come. And since 2004, every Government had renewed the scheme. However, there was great concern that the new Government would not extend the scheme.
That’s why I held a cross-party Westminster Hall debate on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. It just so happened that, on the day of the debate, the Government announced the scheme would be extended for a further year.
However, it’s disappointing that the Government has reduced the total amount of the scheme to £23 million – down from the £29 million spent last year – and capped how much an organisation can claim during the year.
The scheme, which spends only around £30 million per year, was due to close on 31 March 2025. If the scheme had been cancelled, it would have been devastating for these historic buildings, local communities and the heritage construction sector. What a travesty it would have been if, for the sake of £30 million to the Exchequer, the Government exacerbated the decay of our historical, spiritual and social heritage, with no upside.
There is a profound economic value that goes beyond the £30 million I’ve mentioned.
The Church of England alone has a backlog of repairs to parish churches estimated at more than £1 billion, with the annual need estimated at £150 million per year.
There are 969 places of worship on Historic England’s 2024 heritage at risk register, and more than 60% of MPs in England have a church, chapel, meeting house or cathedral in their constituency that is on the register.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is the only regular financial support the Government provide to help those looking after these buildings. And by financial support, I simply mean a refund of the tax already paid to the Exchequer.
It’s not just heritage and religion that would have been at risk if the scheme lapsed. Churches and other places of worship are hubs of their local communities. Church of England churches alone support over 35,000 social action projects, including food banks, community larders, and debt, drug and alcohol advice and rehabilitation groups.
In recent years, during which we have seen energy prices rise, churches have acted as warm spaces, and at times of extreme weather events they have been gathering points, providing the safety and hospitality required by communities seeking refuge from flooding and other weather events.
Churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK host and run vital support services – everything from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to mental health support and parent and toddler groups. The saving to the NHS from delivering this kind of facility to communities is estimated as £8.4 billion a year.
The contribution that churches and cathedrals make to our creative industries and to tourism is also very significant. Some 9.3 million people visited English cathedrals in 2023—a staggering 17% increase on the year before—with many of those visitors coming from overseas. In that sense, churches, cathedrals and places of worship are a UK export.
Churches are also by far the largest base for amateur music-making by choirs and orchestras, as well as housing thousands of professional performances each year, ranging from pop to classical music. They foster talent, and musicians including singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and leading violinist Tasmin Little began their musical careers by taking part in church music.
With all of this in mind, I’m urging the Government to look now at making the scheme permanent, and not just at giving it a temporary reprieve. This scheme is a bargain and the sum involved is pocket change to the Government. A permanent scheme would enable the larger places of worship, such as cathedrals that plan their repair work over five to 20 years, to commit to long-term projects with certainty that VAT costs will be covered by the scheme.
I will continue to campaign for the scheme to be made permanent, giving greater certainty to our historic churches and places of worship.
Church buildings are the visual centre for tens of thousands of communities, we should protect them
