BY : Obianuju Mbah Christian Today
Churches face “unsustainable” financial and practical pressures unless the government strengthens support for the UK’s historic places of worship, MPs have warned in a major report calling for a new approach to protecting the nation’s built heritage.
The cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee published its new report titled ‘Protecting Built Heritage’ following an 18-month inquiry that received 113 written submissions and heard evidence from heritage organisations and church representatives including the Church of England’s Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings, Emily Gee.
The report holds that churches, cathedrals and other historic buildings are increasingly threatened by rising repair costs, shortages of specialist skills and a planning system that often makes restoration more difficult than new construction.
It advocates that adopting a “reuse first” approach to historic buildings could not only help preserve Britain’s heritage but also contribute significantly towards the government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes.
The report notes that heritage tourism contributes around £20bn annually to the UK economy.
Citing Historic England estimates, MPs said repurposing vacant or underused heritage buildings could create as many as 670,000 homes.
Among the committee’s concerns is the financial burden facing churches following changes to government support for repairs.
England has more than 370,000 listed buildings, including around 14,800 places of worship.
Most (83%) belong to the Church of England, with churches collectively spending more than £1bn each year maintaining their buildings, with £167m invested in building projects during 2023.
The report warns that replacing the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme with the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund risks leaving some historically significant churches without adequate support.
It recommends that the new fund should be “at least as generous in real terms” as the previous scheme before its budget reductions and the introduction of funding caps.
MPs urged ministers to ensure that the funding criteria properly balances social deprivation with the historic significance and wider community role of churches.
The committee further called on the government to explore “targeted VAT relief for maintenance and conversion of listed heritage buildings”, arguing that the current tax regime discourages restoration and reuse.
Witnesses told the inquiry that the removal of VAT relief and subsequent funding caps had left some churches facing repair bills so large that projects had become financially unviable.
Camilla Finaly, Director of Clews Architects, described the VAT burden on major repair projects as “catastrophic”.
Volunteers, who carry much of the responsibility for maintaining church buildings, were identified as an area of growing concern.
The Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service warned the committee that many historic places of worship depend heavily on volunteers and that if maintaining buildings becomes “too overwhelming or becomes financially unsustainable, they may simply walk away”.
To prevent burnout, the Committee recommended creating “a funded support framework” providing volunteer-led heritage organisations access to “critical friends”, mentoring and short-term professional support such as surveyors, conservation architects and project managers.
MPs also highlighted a shortage of traditional heritage skills – including stonemasonry, stained-glass conservation, bell founding and roofing – warning that the decline of these specialist crafts poses a significant threat to the future of the UK’s historic buildings, including churches and other places of worship.
The report calls on the government to work with Historic England and Skills England to establish protected training pathways and a dedicated heritage skills hub.
Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage said current government policy was failing both to protect historic buildings and to unlock their wider potential.
“We heard compelling evidence that the best way of protecting a building is for it to be occupied, used, lived in and loved,” she said.
Calling for a national “heritage-to-housing” programme, she added: “‘Reuse first’ should be the guiding principle, with a heritage to housing scheme offering a clear win-win by preserving our historic buildings and helping to meet the pressing need for new homes.”
She recommended funding that “incentivises repairs and renewal over construction”, while addressing the serious shortage of skilled workers in the heritage sector.
Beyond churches, the committee recommends reforms to planning rules, improved stewardship of government-owned heritage assets, annual reporting on the condition of historic buildings and greater recognition of under-represented heritage sites.
Concluding its inquiry, the committee warned that continued inaction risked not only the loss of Britain’s historic buildings but also missed opportunities for regeneration, housing and economic growth.
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